Chapter 106 – Mission: Rescue Prince Two
On the matter of drugging the Emperor, Li Mingjin ultimately chose not to brief His Majesty. If the Emperor asked how Mingjin knew, what would he say, that his eyes and ears blanket the capital and every move the Fourth makes lands in his palm? Better to change the plan.
They would still “dose” the Emperor, but with Lin Physician’s mild sedatives, not Shen Mingyun’s vial. Enough to lull, not harm. Enough to let the Emperor hear and see his impatient son rummaging for a decree.
Which is how, after waking from that fog, the Emperor watched his fourth son and Shen Mingyun scramble out of the hidden room, just as Li Mingjin returned to the bedside. The Emperor shut his eyes at once, feigning that failing breath while blood and strength crept back into his fingertips.
Mingjin and Luo Shuyu knew exactly how long the draught would last. They wanted His Majesty to witness the Fourth’s impatience and, ideally, spare Mingjin the need to unsheathe the darker parts of his strength. Now it was the Emperor’s turn to think.
Until recently, Mingjin hadn’t been certain whom the Emperor favored. He suspected a lean toward the Fourth, confirmed when his men quietly located the hidden decree and read the name. Hence the counter: turn the Fourth’s poisoning into a stage, and let the Emperor see.
Under Shen’s vial, the Emperor should have lasted three days at best. Under Lin’s pills, he could last longer. And after witnessing today? The Fourth would not be allowed near again. Haste is not an imperial virtue.
The Fourth and Shen left the palace. Mingjin and Luo lingered to be dutiful sons, praying for long life, chattering about attending Chongchong’s first-birthday “grab” ceremony then withdrew as well.
When the room emptied, the Emperor fully surfaced. The physicians, startled, checked him over: no miracle, just… back to baseline. They swallowed questions and wrote prescriptions.
The Emperor did not dither. He entered the secret room, called for a brazier, and fed the decree to the fire.
This realm cannot be left to the Fourth.
That left the Third. It must be the Third. The one who cared for his father, who truly guarded Great Xia. His faction might be lighter, but the Emperor was still alive, alive long enough to rearrange the board so the Third would not be devoured the day after succession.
He had underestimated the Fourth. Nearly erred, thank heaven not too late. The old eunuch watched that decree curl to ash and knew: the wind had changed.
Back at the Third Prince’s manor, they ate at home; it felt wrong to dine out while the Emperor ailed.
The counterstroke had landed: one, it checked the Fourth; two, it nudged the Emperor to rewrite with his own hand. Far tidier than forcing the issue.
News arrived from Chen Rong at the “private troops” mountain, now a full intelligence hub under his care, a village masking it below, impossible for the Fourth’s people to sniff out.
Luo Shuyu saw Mingjin’s expression shift. “What’s wrong?”
“No ‘wrong,’” Mingjin said, “just fast. Prince Two has already pushed men into Great Xia.”
“So the border has the Fourth’s fingerprints?”
“Some. We can’t spook them yet. Even if the Fourth notices Father can still hold on, he has that old decree’s confidence and Prince Two as his final card.”
“Prince Two’s men here, will they raid? Hurt civilians?” Luo asked.
“Not while we’re watching.” A hard light flashed in Mingjin’s eyes. “If they bare fangs, they’ll be broken.”
They had lived the borderlands; they knew the Ghost-Yan raiders’ cruelty. Inviting wolves to fight foxes only ended one way: the wolves ate you. The Fourth and Shen, drunk on near-term power, couldn’t or wouldn’t see it.
Mingjin wrote to Chen Rong, then slipped out at night to meet Elder General Wei. If this were only princely rivalry, the old man would stay idle. But foreign troops crossing into Xia? He would rise. He had devoted a lifetime to driving enemies out; he would not watch them slink back in.
The machine engaged. Intelligence became “urgent military report,” climbed the right ladders, and the response formed: trap and grind Prince Two’s infiltrators, leave no armor unbroken.
The very next day, the Emperor, thin but determined, took the throne at court.
A normally unremarkable general strode out with a sealed dispatch: Zhou’s Second Prince has crossed into our lands. Request immediate deployment.
The Emperor’s fury was swift. Orders flew. Commanders named. Heads rolled verbally for letting this happen on their watch.
The Fourth said nothing. Not piety, but panic. He needed to warn Prince Two that their trail was blown. If Prince Two scattered his men into “civilians,” the incursion might blur. And if the succession was assured, perhaps he no longer needed that card.
But one detail nagged him: two days ago the Imperial Physicians said Father was at death’s door. How was he standing in court?
No time to dwell. He needed to send word fast before Li Mingjin’s net cinched tight.
Mingjin expected exactly that. What he needed was an imperial order on the books. With that, garrisons could lawfully sweep and seize Zhou forces. Inch too slow, and Prince Two would vanish, he was a fox. Alone, he’d be uncatchable. With a column of soldiers? Pride would make him linger.
“Tell Mr. Chen,” Mingjin instructed the shadows, “one comes, snare one; two come, take two. Alive.”
For the Fourth and Prince Two, the floor had just fallen away. The Fourth suspected a traitor in Prince Two’s camp, then dismissed it more likely, they’d simply grown careless.
Shen Mingyun would have loved to bow out until the system chimed:
[ Priority Mission: Extract Zhou’s Second Prince. This determines the Fourth’s smooth ascension. Success only. Failure = unacceptable. ]
Shen swore. “How am I supposed to ‘extract’ him? No men, no intel.”
[ Store updated. Three recommended tools—free. Select now. ]
Free for this? Shen picked through the list, flavor of vinegar on his tongue. “When it’s my business, you charge points. When it’s his, it’s all freebies, top-tier, too.”
[ Special times, special measures. ]
He would never understand the thing in his head. But his life was lashed to the Fourth’s and now to Prince Two’s. He squared his shoulders, went to the Fourth’s study, and found him pacing.
“I know where Prince Two is,” Shen said. “Get me out the west gate now. Miss this window and he’s gone.”
“You’re going to save him?” the Fourth blurted.
“Yes. If he’s taken, the fallout will crush you.”
The Fourth’s eyes warmed. “I trust you, Mingyun. I’m grateful. In the future, I’ll listen to you, everything.”
Under that gentle gaze, Shen’s heart twitched. “We’re grasshoppers on one rope. Your good is my good. Protect our children.”
“I will. Be careful.”
“…Mm.” And just like that, he had momentum again. Maybe, just, maybe, he could trust the Fourth one more time.
Orders snapped. Shen disguised; his own face-shifting talisman did the rest. With a handful of guards, he rode for Prince Two’s last-known.
New mission: rescue the love rival.
News of Shen’s sudden departure reached Mingjin and Luo quickly. They hadn’t expected him to volunteer to save Prince Two, this would complicate the grab.
“If he dares leave the capital,” Shuyu murmured, “he’s armed to the teeth with system toys.”
Mingjin didn’t flinch. To the runner, he said, “Tell Mr. Chen: one in the trap, one caught; two in the trap, two caught.”
No one could predict whether the “native-born” Chen Rong or the system-backed Shen Mingyun would win this round.
Shuyu, despite himself, worried for Chen Rong.
Author’s Note:
Shen Mingyun: hehe, Prince Two, I’m coming!
Prince Two: oh no, I’m terrified~
Fourth Prince: Don’t be. You have me!
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