Chapter 67: Mr. Ming

Having gathered all the information he desired, the Fourth Prince, Huangfu Mingfeng, accompanied Fan Tong to the guesthouse that had long been prepared for him to rest.

However, the moment he turned around, he could not help casting one more deep, lingering look at Chen Xuanbao!

Three days later, once the rations, armaments, and soldiers all arrived, he would lead his troops toward Mount Liang without a moment's delay.

As for Chen Xuanbao, he set off to summon another renowned fierce general of Yannan Province to pay respects to the Fourth Prince.

Yet, no one knew that the moment Chen Xuanbao stepped out of the official residence and boarded his carriage, a middle-aged man in a green robe was already waiting for him inside.

"General Chen, the matter regarding Nan Xuanfeng was handled splendidly. Had it not been for the General, Nan Xuanfeng would never have found his way into Mount Liang. In days to come, our master will not forget the General's contributions!" the green-robed middle-aged man said with a smile.

"Mr. Ming, serving our master is an honor for the likes of us!" Chen Xuanbao replied with a hint of ingratiation in his tone.

Remarkably, even when facing the Fourth Prince Huangfu Mingfeng just moments ago, Chen Xuanbao had never lowered himself to such an extent. This alone was enough to reveal the extraordinary status of the man before him.

The surname Ming—such a surname sounded simple enough, yet it was anything but ordinary. The Ming clan belonged to none of the Four Guardian General families, nor to the four prominent clans such as Beiming or Dongfang, nor even to the Six Great Noble Families.

However, the current Empress, the biological mother of the Crown Prince, indeed bore the surname Ming. Although the Ming family had not ascended into the ranks of the absolute apex dynasties of power, its influence was second only to theirs.

Furthermore, the Ming clan possessed its own unique philosophy of survival. Despite leaning against the towering tree of the Empress, the family refrained from aggressively expanding its own power; instead, it grew increasingly obscure and hidden from the public eye.

"Hahaha, yet it is somewhat a pity for a fierce warrior like Nan Xuanfeng!" inside the carriage, Mr. Ming lowered his voice and laughed.

Although they were surrounded by trusted confidants of both himself and Chen Xuanbao, caution was never excessive. Therefore, even inside the carriage, the two men deliberately lowered their voices while conversing.

To this, Chen Xuanbao remained noncommittal. The affair of Nan Xuanfeng involved a heavy stroke of coincidence, and at the time, he had merely gone with the flow.

Back then, the reason Chen Xuanbao had agreed to let Nan Xuanfeng dispatch troops to Mount Liang was simply because a 300-mile urgent express had just arrived reporting that the Fourth Prince was about to suppress the bandits. He had merely intended to use Nan Xuanfeng's hands to deliver a batch of weaponry to Mount Liang, rather than genuinely wishing for Nan Xuanfeng to rescue Tang Yuanlong from the bandit stronghold.

Tang Yuanlong might have held a certain reputation among the common folk of Nanan Commandery, but once outside of Nanan Commandery, how many people even knew his name, let alone within the vast expanse of Yannan Province? To a figure of Chen Xuanbao's stature, Tang Yuanlong was nothing more than mediocre.

Do not be fooled by Chen Xuanbao's submissive and obedient demeanor in front of Huangfu Mingfeng and Mr. Ming. Huangfu Mingfeng was, after all, an imperial prince; relying solely on the status of such a prince, officials high and low across the Great Cang Empire were obliged to put up a flawless facade on the surface.

As for Mr. Ming, he was a trusted confidant belonging to the master whom Chen Xuanbao served, and his status was far from ordinary. This was a man Chen Xuanbao could ill afford to offend, especially since his future promotions and titles all depended heavily upon him!

Yet, Chen Xuanbao was, after all, one of the top provincial officials and a heavyweight regional minister. Within Yannan Province, he answered to only one man: Provincial Governor Fan Tong.

In truth, among the provincial garrison forces of Yannan Province, although Nan Xuanfeng excelled in martial prowess, he was not entirely devoid of military command talent, nor was he incompetent enough to suffer such a crushing defeat in a single battle.

The reason Nan Xuanfeng had been defeated so utterly was undoubtedly inseparable from the secret instigation and covert pushes of certain individuals behind the scenes.

However, even Chen Xuanbao had not anticipated that figures like Song Jiang and Wu Yong would prove so formidable as to capture Nan Xuanfeng along with his two deputy commanders, Gu Xifeng and Gu Nanhai, dragging all three back to their stronghold. Though their methods were somewhat despicable, they were undeniably effective, weren't they?

Chen Xuanbao was by no means truly incompetent. He had not failed to spot a single flaw in Wu Yong's scheme of disguising men as Nan Xuanfeng to plunder the neighboring prefectural offices.

He had simply chosen to seize the opportunity, and before Fan Tong could react, he feigned a fit of rage driven by righteous fury, pretending to be caught off guard as he covertly lent Wu Yong and his cohorts a helping hand.

Later on, living up to expectations, Song Jiang and Wu Yong firmly grasped the opportunity created by their tacit understanding, actively matchmaking between Nan Xuanfeng and Tang Yuanlong's sister, Tang Yuanfeng, thereby temporarily binding Nan Xuanfeng to Mount Liang.

The master behind Chen Xuanbao did not wish to see the Fourth Prince achieve victory in this bandit suppression campaign. Although he knew very well that even if the Fourth Prince succeeded, the prince's foundation was still too shallow to pose an immediate threat in the short term, he remained more than willing to nip all potential threats in the bud.

Hence came Chen Xuanbao's intention to deliver three thousand sets of fine armor to Mount Liang under the guise of a military engagement, and subsequently, his calculated move to force Nan Xuanfeng into rebellion.

After all, even if Chen Xuanbao wished to assist his master in undermining the Fourth Prince, he could never do so openly; he was restricted to covert maneuvers. On the contrary, not only could he not oppose the prince overtly, but he also had to assist the Fourth Prince Huangfu Mingfeng as visibly as possible.

The addition of Nan Xuanfeng to Mount Liang would unquestionably spell considerable trouble for the Fourth Prince when he eventually arrived to suppress the bandits.

In the power struggles among those high above, as long as their objectives were met, insignificant pawns like Nan Xuanfeng could be sacrificed at a whim. Indeed, as long as they deemed the benefits sufficient, there was nothing they would hesitate to sacrifice.

Had history followed its normal trajectory, the eventual downfall of the Great Cang Dynasty would have been directly linked not only to the internal troubles and external invasions that subsequently arose, but most profoundly to the ruthless power struggles among the ruling elite.

Had it not been for this, the Military God would not have faded into retirement in the future, the Confucian Strategist would not have remained stationed in the Eastern Territory turning a blind eye to the affairs of Great Cang, and the Fierce General would never have become a sacrificial lamb in political vendettas.

The Military God, the Confucian Strategist, and the Fierce General—if these three pillars holding up the sky of Great Cang had wholeheartedly backed the empire, how could Great Cang have so easily fractured and marched toward destruction along the historical trajectory to come?

Especially Chu Xizhaoxi, the Military God of Great Cang, who was a true god-tier commander, and an exceptional one even among his peers. In this regard, the Confucian Strategist and the Fierce General fell a notch short, as both had only reached the peak of the Heavenly Tier! Powerful though they were, it depended entirely on whom they were compared against.

Yet, with the advent of Wang Yi, the future inevitably altered its course. At least this time, Wang Yi had successfully arrived in the capital and reached the Great Cang Academy, skipping much of the excitement he was originally destined to experience and bypassing many people and events he should have encountered.

Of course, while many encounters meant for him had been temporarily delayed, there were also many people and events that were not supposed to cross his path until years later, yet Wang Yi was about to meet them immediately.

How could Wang Yi ever imagine that, stirred by the flapping wings of his own tiny butterfly, a figure he was only supposed to meet years down the line was, at this very moment, residing within Mount Liang.