Upon witnessing this scene, Duke Turing Tuo felt a chill spread through his entire body, his eyes nearly splitting with rage.
Beside him, Turing Chen, along with countless officers and soldiers, were all horrified beyond measure.
Across more than a hundred thousand square metres, flames soared into the sky while thick poisonous smoke filled the air. All forty thousand of Turing Tuo’s troops were trapped within, screaming, struggling, and ultimately dying miserable deaths.
No wonder the advance towards the walls had been so smooth, almost completely unopposed. It had all been designed to pack more soldiers beneath the walls as quickly as possible. It had all been for this single inferno to burn even more people alive.
Turing Tuo stared at the sea of flames and the countless soldiers dying within it. The muscles in his face twitched repeatedly, while his expression grew even colder.
“Sound the gong and withdraw the troops.”
He issued the order coldly.
A gong immediately rang out.
Of course, it was merely symbolic. The advance had been so successful that all forty thousand soldiers had already rushed into hell itself. There was no one left to return.
Turing Tuo acted decisively, without the slightest hesitation. He immediately ordered the army back to camp and ended the battle.
…
After returning to camp, Turing Tuo shut himself inside his tent and quietly reflected alone.
A short while later, Turing Chen called from outside.
“Father, a personal letter from Soren.”
“Bring it in.”
Turing Chen entered with the letter and handed it to his father.
After opening it, Turing Tuo found several thousand densely written words.
The tone was neither cold nor warm. It simply laid out the facts in a calm and objective manner.
In the letter, Soren clearly pointed out that he still possessed seventy thousand troops and countless prisoners. If Turing Tuo focused entirely on attacking Sky Wolf Pass, Soren’s chances of victory exceeded sixty or seventy percent.
If Turing Tuo instead shifted his campaign to the Thunderwind Fortress defensive line, Soren still had over ten thousand defenders there and strong fortifications along the riverbank.
Turing Tuo still possessed more than a hundred thousand troops. If he left half to besiege Sky Wolf Pass while sending eighty or ninety thousand across the river to attack Thunderwind Fortress, then his chances of victory would exceed sixty percent.
Thus, if the war continued, both sides essentially had equal chances.
However, even in the best possible outcome, Turing Tuo would lose at least one hundred thousand troops.
Soren explained that his reluctance to fight was not because he could not win, but because he wished to preserve more troops to consolidate his previous gains. If both sides fought to mutual destruction, it would be impossible to predict the outcome.
If Turing Tuo could not guarantee victory even when he had two hundred thousand troops, how could he be certain now after losing forty thousand?
At the end of the letter, Soren emphasised one final point.
“Duke Turing Tuo, are you so eager to destroy me because you fear that once I am gone, Zhi Li will discard you like a hunting dog once the prey is gone?”
After reading the letter, Turing Tuo closed his eyes.
That final sentence struck deeply into his heart.
At present, Soren was Zhi Li’s only remaining enemy.
Once Soren was eliminated, what use would Duke Turing Tuo still serve to Zhi Li?
Naturally, Turing Tuo believed that as long as he retained control of the military, Zhi Li would find it difficult to act against him.
However, several of his plans were still incomplete. For example, he intended for his daughter Turing Duo to gain control of Luanyang City, while his son Turing Chen would marry into the Hai Clan of Yingzhou Island, thereby securing a maritime retreat.
Once those arrangements were completed, the Turing family would have no further worries and their power would become even greater. At that point, even if Zhi Li wished to purge them, it would not be easy.
Turing Tuo began reflecting upon himself.
After obtaining Zhi Li’s promise of a royal title, he had become blinded by ambition and focused solely on destroying Soren.
Soren’s griffin air raids had been intended as a warning, yet they had failed to wake him.
Only after suffering a bloody defeat beneath Sky Wolf Pass had he finally come to his senses.
After reading the letter once, he closed his eyes and thought for a while, then read it again.
Finally, he handed it to Turing Chen.
“You should read it as well.”
Turing Chen quickly finished the letter.
“What do you think?” Turing Tuo asked.
Turing Chen replied, “I think Soren is exaggerating in order to intimidate us. But his final point makes sense. If we destroy him too early, Prince Zhi Li may indeed discard us once we have outlived our usefulness.”
Turing Tuo shook his head.
“No. Soren is not bluffing. Every word in this letter is true. Even if I use every resource and every bit of wisdom I possess, I still only have a fifty percent chance of victory. And even if I win, surviving with only a few tens of thousands of men would already be fortunate.”
“Then should we withdraw and return to Zhi Capital?” Turing Chen asked.
“We will return,” Turing Tuo replied.
“But not yet.”
…
The following day.
The King’s trusted eunuch, Gao Yin, arrived at Turing Tuo’s camp aboard a griffin while carrying the Divine Dragon King’s Staff.
Standing before all the officers and soldiers, he read aloud the royal decree.
“By the mandate of Dragon Chengyan, the King decrees: The assassination of the Crown Prince has no connection whatsoever to Count Soren. All witnesses and evidence have been verified. The accusation that the Suo family of Tianshui City committed treason is entirely false. Duke Turing Tuo is hereby ordered to immediately withdraw his forces and return to Zhi Capital. Any violation of this command shall be treated as treason. So decreed.”
Turing Tuo stared at Gao Yin for a long time.
The entire army stared at Turing Tuo as well.
If he refused the decree, it would mean continuing the war. He would also become the first minister in the kingdom’s history to openly defy a royal command.
If he defied it, Soren would be forced to fight him to the bitter end in order to preserve the authority of the King’s decree.
Otherwise, no one would ever respect royal commands again.
At last, Duke Turing Tuo knelt down, accepted the decree, and declared:
“This minister obeys.”
The moment those words were spoken, Gao Yin released a long breath of relief.
So did Turing Chen and the others.
After Gao Yin departed, Turing Tuo immediately ordered the army to break camp and return to Zhi Capital.
Thus, one hundred and sixty thousand troops began the long march back to the Furious Wave Kingdom’s royal capital.
With that, Zhi Li’s campaign to destroy Soren was officially declared a failure.
At the beginning, four hundred thousand troops had been mobilised to attack Tianshui City from every direction.
After more than a month of warfare, Gui Xingfu surrendered in defeat, Coastal City fell, Zhi Wei’s entire army was annihilated and he himself was executed, while Turing Tuo suffered a setback and withdrew.
Zhi Li had suffered an unprecedented defeat.
This defeat would directly alter the balance of power throughout the Furious Wave Kingdom and transform the entire political landscape.
Throughout the campaign, Soren expended more than nine hundred thousand jin of gunpowder and over thirty million jin of burning oil. He suffered more than twenty thousand casualties, mobilised over two hundred thousand labourers, and spent three hundred and fifty thousand gold coins.
The rewards, however, were enormous.
He killed one hundred and thirty thousand enemies and captured nearly seventy thousand more.
Two of Gui Xingfu’s three major pillars of support were destroyed.
Meanwhile, Soren’s territory and influence expanded more than sixfold.
…
After withdrawing, Turing Tuo did not wait for Jian Ning to report anything.
Instead, he personally wrote an emotional letter to Zhi Li.
In it, he explained that the King had personally ordered him to withdraw.
He also described how Soren’s schemes had burned tens of thousands of his soldiers to death during the previous day’s battle.
Furthermore, he claimed that Soren had implied certain threats, stating that if Turing Tuo refused to withdraw, he would expose some of Zhi Li’s secrets to the world.
Thus, Turing Tuo wrote that he was caught in a dilemma and did not know whether he should retreat or continue fighting.
Of course, he had already withdrawn.
He merely phrased it elegantly and respectfully asked Zhi Li whether he should retreat or not.
The letter quickly reached Zhi Li by messenger falcon.
After reading it, Zhi Li sat silently for a very long time.
It was a devastating blow.
An unprecedented blow.
This campaign against Soren had ended in complete disaster.
The previous anti Soren campaign had been even more catastrophic militarily. Hundreds of ships and one hundred and sixty thousand allied troops had been burned to ashes. Yet that defeat had not damaged Zhi Li personally to any great extent.
This defeat was different.
It had truly crippled him.
Seeing Zhi Li sitting motionless and desolate, his wife Fang Qingzhuo softly asked,
“What happened?”
“Turing Tuo has withdrawn,” Zhi Li replied.
“He led two hundred thousand troops, marched for nearly a month across thousands of miles to reach Sky Wolf Pass, fought a single battle, and then retreated.”
“Why?” Fang Qingzhuo asked.
“Because he wants to preserve his own importance. Once Soren is destroyed, he fears I will discard him.”
When news had arrived that Duke Zhi Wei’s army had been annihilated and Gui Xingfu had defected, Zhi Li had coughed blood and collapsed unconscious.
This time, Turing Tuo’s withdrawal signified the complete failure of his entire strategy.
Yet he remained strangely calm.
He realised he no longer had the right to be angry.
He no longer had the right to vent his frustration.
The failure was already irreversible.
His heart burned with rage, sorrow, and resentment.
But outwardly he remained silent and cold.
He personally wrote a reply to Turing Tuo.
The letter was filled with concern and sympathy.
He even praised Turing Tuo’s decision to withdraw from the perspective of the kingdom’s greater interests.
Furthermore, he once again proposed marrying Turing Tuo’s daughter, Turing Mo, as a secondary consort.
In truth, he probably wished to skin Turing Tuo alive and grind his bones into dust.
Yet his letter was warmer and more humble than ever.
It truly required tremendous restraint.
…
After the war ended, the chief eunuch Gao Yin became the busiest man in the kingdom.
After delivering the King’s decree and personally witnessing Turing Tuo’s withdrawal, he returned to Zhi Capital aboard a griffin and immediately entered Zhi Li’s princely residence.
“The King’s decree has arrived.”
Zhi Li stepped forward with a cold expression.
He merely bowed rather than kneeling.
Everyone knew that the decrees were now effectively being written by Soren or Princess Zhi Yan.
Gao Yin read aloud.
“By the mandate of Dragon Chengyan, the King decrees: Crown Prince Zhi Li was wounded after coveting the beauty of Qinshao of the Gui family, yet falsely accused Count Soren of the crime. Such behaviour is absurd, shameless, contemptuous of the kingdom’s laws, and disrespectful towards both sovereign and father…”
The decree thoroughly denounced Zhi Li.
Finally, it ordered him into confinement and sentenced him to three lashes.
After hearing the decree, the muscles in Zhi Li’s face twitched repeatedly.
Utter humiliation.
Unbearable humiliation.
Had Turing Tuo still been besieging Sky Wolf Pass, he would have openly defied the order.
But now, defiance would gain him nothing except pride.
And if he resisted, a new decree might strip him of his title as Crown Prince.
Although his position did not truly depend upon the King, resisting now after such a disastrous defeat would only worsen matters.
Grinding his teeth, he said,
“This son obeys.”
He then stood in the centre of the courtyard.
A eunuch stepped forward carrying a long whip.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Before countless witnesses, three merciless lashes struck across Zhi Li’s back.
Blood immediately soaked through his clothing.
After the punishment was completed, Gao Yin departed with the eunuchs and guards.
Zhi Li remained standing motionless in the courtyard.
Blood flowed down his back as he gazed at the sky.
Gradually, his eyes became colder and more vicious.
His face twisted with hatred.
“This humiliation will be repaid a hundredfold. A hundredfold.”
“Zhi Bian, Soren, Zhi Yan, I will grind your bones to dust and scatter your ashes.”
…
Gao Yin remained extremely busy.
Now that Zhi Li had received the decree and endured his humiliation, the next royal order could be issued smoothly.
He mounted a griffin once more and flew to Tianshui City.
This time, Qinshao of the Gui family received the decree.
“By the mandate of Dragon Chengyan, the King decrees: Qinshao, legitimate daughter of the Gui family, is hereby awarded the Noble Warrior Medal.”
That was the first decree.
The second followed immediately.
“By the mandate of Dragon Chengyan, the King decrees: Gui Qinshao is hereby invested as Countess of Coastal City and granted the position of City Lord of Coastal City. So decreed.”
Thus, Gui Qinshao officially became the ruler of Coastal City and the second female feudal lord in the world.
…
Within a manor in the imperial capital of the Yan Empire.
Princess Zhi Ning was nursing her baby.
Although the child was not yet a month old, he already weighed more than ten kilograms, plump, fair, and irresistibly adorable.
One tiny hand rested on one breast while his mouth fed from the other as he worked hard to drink milk.
“Mmm, mmm, mmm…”
While feeding, he made little sounds of effort.
He truly seemed to be working very hard.
The baby was remarkably strong, eating large amounts and sucking vigorously enough that Zhi Ning’s sensitive nipples sometimes ached.
“You naughty little thing. If you’re eating, then eat. Why are you biting so hard?”
Zhi Ning scolded affectionately as she lightly tapped the baby’s cheek.
At that moment, a maid entered and bowed.
“Your Highness, a letter has arrived from His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Zhi Ning froze.
A letter from her brother, Zhi Li?
Ever since she had fled to the Yan Empire’s capital, her brother had practically severed ties with her and had never written a single word.
Why would he suddenly write now?
Still nursing the baby, she opened the letter.
After reading it, her delicate body trembled.
Her beautiful eyes widened in shock.
She simply could not believe what the letter contained.