Chapter 491
Fei the Third looked at the faces before him—some familiar, some not—and began to stammer again. His expression was troubled. “That... that, Father, Mother, dear neighbors all, the Divine Maiden said that heavy rain would fall across the entirety of Nanzhao and Nanyue within ten days, and two days have already passed since then.”
The time left for them to flee—or to find some other way—was running out.
Fei the Third’s mother could tell from her son’s expression that there was more to it than that. In a rare moment of gentleness, she asked quietly, “Third, is there something else going on here?”
“Mother, the Divine Maiden said that Nanzhao and Nanyue will see ten days of heavy rain, and that rain will continue unabated for over a month—there will be floods!”
Fei the Third shut his eyes and let it all out in one breath.
For a moment, there was a strange, suffocating silence. Then someone broke into sobs. “This... this is no way for us to survive!”
“First drought, then flood! Have we committed some crime against heaven? Is the old sky trying to kill us all?” Cries mixed with shouts and curses, and the scene dissolved into chaos.
It could be said that they were all people of the same nation, for the citizens of Yucheng cursed in much the same way as those of Fengcheng—the blame all falling on the heavens.
“Divine Maiden! The Divine Maiden cannot treat us like this! She cannot drown us with water! We belong to Dayan now, we are Dayan people!”
Someone knelt and kowtowed to the sky, shouting for the Divine Maiden’s forgiveness.
Fei the Third’s face turned grim first. He had witnessed the Divine Maiden’s power with his own eyes, and thus held the deepest faith in her. The moment he heard someone trying to pin the flood on the Divine Maiden—
He stepped forward first and said sharply to that person, “Sir, please watch your words! The Divine Maiden is kind and benevolent—first she brought rain to Wei City and Fengcheng to relieve the drought. Then she warned us in advance so we could prepare! The Divine Maiden means well, so how can you claim that She is the one bringing this great rain?”
Seeing the man fall silent, he continued in a louder voice, “I just said it—Nanzhao and Nanyue are both under this heavy rain. This rain is from the heavens; it is the old sky’s doing, making trouble for us. What does it have to do with the Divine Maiden?”
“The Emperor is without virtue! It must be the Emperor’s lack of virtue that brought us this punishment!” Someone in the crowd shouted.
“Yes, surely the Emperor has done evil deeds, and we are all suffering for his sins!”
Watching the noisy, chaotic scene, the system could not help but complain, “Host, see—someone really is trying to blame the rain on you! Fortunately, this Fei the Third is a smart one. If this spread, it would be trouble!”
Now that the blame had landed on the Emperor instead, it was an unexpected gift. The system silently noted the names of the person who first said that and of Fei the Third’s family. If the chance came, it wouldn’t mind lending a hand—and earn itself some merit in the process.
Yue Fuguang nodded. Human hearts had always been like this; she had long guessed that someone would try to pin the rain on her, seeing as she was the only one in the world who could control the rain!
“System, keep an eye on public opinion. This is a perfect chance to slander me—the courts of Nanzhao and Nanyue will not let it pass.”
“Well—host, you called it. Based on the intelligence I’ve gathered so far, there are two dominant voices in Nanyue and Nanzhao right now.” The system paused. “One is that the Emperor is without virtue and heaven has inflicted punishment. The other is that the two nations waged war, and the Divine Maiden sent down great rain to help the Dayan army take both countries. As for the early warning—they claim it was not warning at all, but a threat—threatening both the people and both courts!”
Although she had expected this, hearing the system’s concrete intelligence still made Yue Fuguang speechless.
“Why hasn’t Gan Sheng died yet? Is he really that stubborn?” Yue Fuguang’s hand twitched. If he didn’t go cold soon, she might have to send him down herself.
“Master, soon, soon! Prince Cheng, who was supposed to be holding Jia Ling City and putting up a fight against our army, secretly returned to the capital yesterday. Not only did he leave, he took most of his elite troops with him.”
Yue Fuguang’s eyes flickered. “Little Zhu, is he in a hurry to grab the throne?”
“That’s right! He heard that his nephew Gan Sheng’s health is getting worse day by day, and he’s afraid that if he returns too late, the throne will fall into the young crown prince’s hands instead!”
“So he’s planning to storm the palace, or just kill Gan Sheng and take the throne himself?”
“Given Prince Cheng’s temperament and Gan Sheng’s current condition, he’ll certainly charge straight into the imperial palace, force Gan Sheng to abdicate, and make him write out an edict of succession.”
“Prince Cheng took most of his elite troops—so isn’t Jia Ling City practically empty now? If the Dayan army were to attack Jia Ling at this moment...”
“Then it would surely fall with minimal losses!”
Inside the carriage, Shen Chunying’s hand, pouring tea for Yue Fuguang, paused for a moment. Outside, sitting on the carriage shaft, Feng Tang’s spirits lifted—this intelligence had come at exactly the right time.
He calculated the timing—Prince Cheng, with his army, would return to the capital slower than they would. From Jia Ling City to Gan City, the fastest trip would take five days. That was enough time for the Dayan army to make their preparations.
As for the rumors about the Young Master spreading through Nanzhao and Nanyue—that must be reported to His Majesty as soon as possible. Their Young Master’s name allowed for no slander or defilement from anyone.
"Little Zhu, keep an eye on Prince Cheng's side. Whatever you do, don't let him die at this critical moment."
【Master means Gan Sheng is about to make a move against Prince Cheng?】
"Given how Gan Sheng operates, if Prince Cheng had obediently stayed in Jialing City and fought to the death against Dai Yan, Gan Sheng naturally wouldn't have touched him. But now he's returned to the capital without an imperial summons and abandoned Jialing City altogether.
Gan Sheng will definitely go after him. It won't be easy for Prince Cheng to reach the capital safely."
With such a commotion, hiding one's tracks is nearly impossible, and a schemer like Gan Sheng would surely have planted a spy close to Prince Cheng.
【If Prince Cheng were smart, he should have taken precautions.】
The System was only saying that for the sake of saying it. Judging by Prince Cheng's past actions, he had some wit, but not much. If it came to a battle of wits with Gan Sheng, two Princes Cheng together still wouldn't match one Gan Sheng.
Given Prince Cheng's intelligence and temperament, the fact that he'd survived this many years after Gan Sheng took the throne, and even kept his grip on a major army—there had to be a reason behind it. As a System, it couldn't believe otherwise.
"If Prince Cheng were wise, we wouldn't have put him on the throne in the first place. A fool sitting on the emperor's seat means Nan Yue falls to Dai Yan all the faster—and whether it's Nan Yue or Dai Yan, fewer people die either way."
Yue Fuguang's voice was filled with compassion, which indirectly explained why she paid such close attention to the wars and aided Dai Yan—it was all for the sake of 'fewer deaths'!
【Master is truly benevolent. If you ask me, a mortal's life is only a few short decades—what difference does dying sooner or later make? Master needn't trouble herself over it!】
Hearing the Sacred Artifact's words, Shen Chunying and Luo Shendong inside the carriage, and Feng Tang outside it, all twitched at the corners of their mouths and bowed their heads, not daring to make a sound.
"I've accepted their incense offerings. Though it wasn't my intention, this karmic debt cannot go unpaid."
【Master, after we finish with Hezhou and Jizhou, how about we take a detour and swing by Gan City for a visit?】
"Little Zhu, your 'detour' is a thousand leagues north and south?" Hezhou was the farthest prefecture in Dai Yan from Nan Yue and Nanzhao.
It was also the borderland adjoining Beili, long regarded as a vital frontier defense post.