Chapter 1383: Shouzhe's Decisive Victory from Afar

Chapter 1383: Chapter 46: Shouzhe’s Decisive Victory from Afar

Wang Shizhao rattled on at length.

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Prince Yoongheng, however, discovered that he understood every single word Wang Shizhao said, yet strung together like that, he still couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

“In short, our Wang Family has already made all the arrangements. We can detonate Nether Gate Ridge at any time and turn this place into a sea of Purgatory Fire.”

This sentence Prince Yoongheng understood clearly.

At this point, he and everyone else present finally understood this round of tactics and the Wang Family’s layout.

Prince Yoongheng’s gaze grew slightly complicated: “I didn’t expect Patriarch Shouzhe to have already been guarding against a joint offensive from Southern Qin and Western Jin back during the Struggle of the Imperial Sons. No wonder Prince Kang was nowhere near his match back then.”

He had thought Shouzhe’s methods against Prince Kang at the time were already exquisite enough. He hadn’t expected that what he’d seen was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Prince Ning, however, frowned and protested, “It’s nothing more than luck. It just so happens there’s a Nether Gate Ridge between us and Southern Qin. But on Western Jin’s side, it won’t be so easy to stop them.”

“Since things have already reached this point, there’s no need to keep hiding anything.” Wang Shizhao folded his hands in his sleeves and said calmly, “On Western Jin’s side there truly isn’t any Nether Gate Ridge, but don’t forget—starting from the Struggle of the Imperial Sons, my father Wang Zong’an has been excavating a giant canal from the West Sea to the Imperial City and the Dara Desert.”

“Because of the differences in elevation along this canal, we had to build multiple large reservoirs and a seawall dam at West Seabay. Besides keeping the Grand Canal running smoothly, these dams and reservoirs also serve a defensive function.”

“It’s just that this tactic only works once, so it’s similarly being carried out in secret. Everyone thinks the Grand Canal project is merely a livelihood initiative.”

Prince Yoongheng listened, utterly stunned: “This prince is even one of the shareholders of the ‘Dara Pioneer Joint Department’, and yet I didn’t know about this?”

“Very few know of this matter. Even Your Majesty is not particularly clear on it.” Wang Shizhao explained, “My grandfather said Your Majesty has a tendency to love empty glory. If he knew we had a trump card, he’d never stay put. Nine times out of ten he’d stir up some incident before abdicating.”

Well now!

Prince Yoongheng couldn’t help but praise, “What this prince admires most about Patriarch Shouzhe is precisely this point—he dares to badmouth even Your Majesty any time he likes. Unlike us younger members of the Imperial Family, who turn into mice seeing a cat whenever we see the old man.”

“That’s called ‘being firm because one has no desires’.” Wang Shizhao said. “Our Wang Family only wants to develop the clan steadily and live peaceful, stable days. We have no ambition to vie for the throne, and we don’t need any rewards from Your Majesty. The Wu Family is also devotedly loyal to Daqian, abiding by every rule and regulation. The memorials they submit are all for the sake of the nation’s overall interests. Even if Your Majesty is displeased and wants to find trouble, he can’t find any fault to pick.”

“Moreover, there is no clause in Daqian Law that says even if the Great Emperor makes a mistake, no one is allowed to speak of it, or that no minister may discuss the national policies he proclaims. If that were the case, why would the Daqian Wu Family have rallied a bunch of Noble Families to establish the country? They might as well have just made their own clan into the ruling house.”

Of course, that was how it was in theory, but Shouzhe daring to play things this way also had much to do with Emperor Longchang’s personality.

Don’t look at how every time Shouzhe badmouthed him, Emperor Longchang would fly into a rage, roaring that he’d make things difficult for Wang Shouzhe. In practice, Emperor Longchang was all bark and no bite. He never once relied on his status as Great Emperor to crush people, nor did he use Martial Power to threaten them. Even when he was truly enraged, he at most vented a bit of momentum.

Emperor Longchang might seem willful and have plenty of flaws, but when it came to major national matters, he actually had quite a firm bottom line.

The Daqian Wang Family was a very good example. Although during the last Struggle of the Imperial Sons, the Daqian Wang Family did not stand on Emperor Longchang’s side, and Emperor Longchang had always been displeased with the Daqian Wang Family, in reality, when the Daqian Wang Family was in decline, Emperor Longchang still secretly protected them twice. Otherwise, under the Zhao Family’s suppression, the Daqian Wang Family would probably have dropped out of Third Grade long ago.

Prince Yoongheng rolled his eyes: “Sounds good when you say it. But aren’t you yourself aiming for the position of Prime Minister? Do you know what the influential figures in Gui Long City are calling you now? Young Master, that’s right—you are the ‘Young Master’.”

At these words, Wang Shizhao’s expression immediately turned somewhat resentful: “Your Highness, don’t assume I’m doing this willingly. It was Emperor’s Son An who insisted on dragging my grandfather into assisting with governance. But with my grandfather’s temperament… he’d rather stay home tending his fields than go suffer in the vortex at the center of power.”

“Later, when Emperor’s Son An found he couldn’t persuade him, he settled for second best and wanted my father to go. My father used the excuse that the construction of the Dara Desert could not be abandoned halfway and refused Emperor’s Son An’s recruitment… After that, seeing Emperor’s Son An pestering endlessly, Grandfather mulled it over and decided that among the Direct Lineage, I was the most useless one at home, so he threw me to the Imperial City.”

Speaking up to this point—

Wang Shizhao still felt somewhat aggrieved in his heart.

It was one thing for his usefulness at home to be overshadowed by Grandfather and Father, but to actually be inferior even to the Eldest Son Wang Anye, and be directly exiled by Grandfather to the Imperial City as a stopgap for Emperor’s Son An…

Yes.

A stopgap.

Back then Grandfather had said exactly that…

Alas~ How pitiful, that he, Wang Shizhao, a little Young Clan Leader of the Wang Family, had middling Talent—just a normal Great Celestial Pride—middling capability, and was the least promising among the clan’s Direct Lineage. In this lifetime he could only muddle along and barely scrape together a post as Prime Minister.

Ah~ he really was such a failure~~

“The plan is indeed good, and Patriarch Shouzhe truly is formidable at scheming.” Prince Ning still spoke with some dissatisfaction. “But no matter which country’s Grand Marshal it is, he’s someone who has guarded the Outer Domain Battlefield and accumulated massive war experience.”

“Take Nether Gate Ridge, for example. The terrain is extremely perilous—it’s inherently suited for ambushes. With Southern Qin’s Grand Marshal Murong Kaifong’s calm and cautious personality, he is certain to adopt a step-by-step, methodical advancement strategy. Heh~ Patriarch Shouzhe may be formidable in the arena of power struggles, but the battlefield has its own rules. To want to stay at home and win from Wanli away, hehehe~”

Those few chuckles from Prince Ning fully displayed the entrenched superiority of an old-school soldier.

No wonder Emperor’s Son An had asked Prince Yoongheng to come suppress the scene.

Still, although Wang Shizhao was not eye-catching among the Direct Lineage, he was far from a simple character.

He immediately smiled, bowed, and said, “As a soldier, Prince Ning, first you obey orders, second you keep secrets. No matter how absurd the order, you simply carry it out.”

“Rest assured, my grandfather will have a way to make Murong Kaifong abandon his calm and cautious combat doctrine. Don’t forget—you are a soldier, and so is Murong Kaifong.”

Prince Ning froze for a moment, then snorted coldly: “As a soldier, I will obey Prince Yoongheng’s lawful military orders. But I still don’t believe Murong Kaifong will give up his consistently cautious combat strategy.”

“Then let’s wait and see.”

“If you really pull it off, I, Prince Ning, will personally go to Changning Guard and admit my fault to Patriarch Shouzhe.”

…

Several days later.

Wang Shouzhe, dragging his somewhat hollow, weakened steps, returned to the small courtyard.

Liua Ruoling was becoming more and more domineering and unreasonable. From start to finish, Wang Shouzhe had never once thought about taking a concubine, had he?

In his view, she’d simply been absent for a long time and deliberately came looking for an opportunity to make up for lost ground…

With such a hidden domineering wife—one who even gets jealous of his other personality—if he really took in a concubine, wouldn’t the household be in constant chaos?

As for that huge ruckus during the fight that day… the clan members were already used to that sort of commotion. Didn’t you see Wang Lixian hiding away?

“Grand Ancestor Grandpa…”

Wang Shouzhe had only just settled down in the courtyard, his butt not yet warmed on the seat, when the culprit from last time, Wang Ningxi, came scampering in: “Grand Ancestor Grandpa, you’ve got to save me. Celestial Fire Zhenren keeps pestering me and I really can’t take it anymore.”

“Listen here, Wang Ningxi…” Wang Shouzhe regarded this troublemaking great-great-grandson of his and spoke earnestly, “Could it be you truly want to experience a different kind of life? Say, like those protagonists in cheap pamphlets—being kicked out of the family, hitting rock bottom and then stumbling onto a fortuitous encounter, from then on living a Peak life stomping on Great Emperors and smashing True Immortals, with countless fairies and Witches sobbing and begging to marry you?”

“…” Wang Ningxi.