A Secret Scheme

Perhaps the winter night's cold wind was simply too bleak, for Li Junqing's gaze froze for an instant as he looked at Xu Yuan. "What did you say?" Xu Yuan slowly turned his eyes back, a glint flashing in his golden pupils under the moonlight as he beamed warmly. "I said, let's go kidnap the two of them." "..." Li Junqing licked his lips. He looked at Xu Yuan in front of him, then down at the carriage traveling along the bustling street below, his expression turning downright comical. "Do you have any idea who they are?!" "Keep your voice down." It was a bit loud. Xu Yuan rested one hand on the balcony's wooden railing and raised the other to pick at his ear. "You said it yourself just a moment ago. The Third Imperial Princess of the Sien Empire, fourth in line to the throne of the Kingdom of Sien." Hearing that indifferent tone, Li Junqing could not hold back a curse. "Xu Changtian, are you fucking addicted to wrecking foreign envoys?! Just last year you killed a prince from the Great Desert, and now you want to kidnap an imperial princess of the Sien Empire? This is a beheading offense—" *Smack.* Xu Yuan suddenly clapped a hand onto Li Junqing's shoulder, cutting him off. "Junqing, who in Great Yan do you think would dare take my head?" "You were assassinated just a month ago." "..." Xu Yuan went silent. Li Junqing let out a soft sigh. "This prince isn't like you. Besides, you killed the envoy prince of the Dachao people last year, and war broke out over there this year. Plenty of border army generals are using that very matter to attack the Chancellor..." "Stop right there." Xu Yuan cut him off again with a chuckle. "I don't have that much influence. Even without my little incident, do you really think Great Yan and the Dachao Royal Court wouldn't have gone to war? Others might not understand, but surely you do, Junqing. "A hyena is the kind of beast that, once it catches the scent of blood, will shadow you to the ends of the earth even if you throw it a bone of your own accord." At this point, Xu Yuan paused briefly and pointed a finger upward. "Those two would never appease the Dachao Royal Court, so the matter of that Dachao prince didn't matter in the least." Li Junqing lowered his voice slightly. "You're judging cause by consequence. What the Great Yan Dynasty needs right now is time, and negotiations are the best way to buy it." "Ah, refusing to admit it to the bitter end, are we?" Xu Yuan sighed softly. Folding his arms, he leaned against the railing and looked askance at Li Junqing. "Then let me ask you: how long will it take to handle the sects? And how much time can negotiations really buy? One year? Two? Heh." "..." Li Junqing fell silent. Xu Yuan's gaze seemed capable of seeing right through his thoughts, and he shook his head gently. "I know what you're thinking. "After all, from your perspective, as long as you don't tear off all pretense, you can still survive on your status as Great Yan's Third Prince even if every scheme and stratagem you've laid on Dongying Island completely falls apart. But if you kidnap that Orenli right now, there will truly be no retreat left." "..." Having listened closely, Li Junqing sighed softly. Abandoning his pretense, he threw up his hands and asked, "If you know that, why make this suggestion to me in the first place?" Xu Yuan smiled cheerfully. "Wouldn't it be fine as long as you don't fail?" The corner of Li Junqing's eye twitched. Suppressing the urge to weld his fist into Xu Yuan's insufferable face, he scoffed, "Easy for you to say, Changtian. Why don't you try going to Dongying?" Xu Yuan answered unequivocally, "Not going. I'm afraid of dying." "You're afraid of dying, but I'm not?!" "Tsk, don't get excited. Why don't you hear me out on my reasons first?" Xu Yuan quickly raised his hands to signal him to calm down. Curving his thumb and index finger into a circle, he held up three fingers. "I have three reasons for wanting to kidnap them right here." Li Junqing took two deep breaths and gave a slight nod. "Let's hear it. But I must remind you—don't think you can pull off this kidnapping under everyone's noses. Before coming to Di'an City, Orenli must have prepared for the possibility of foul play, and she will certainly have a way to relay word back to Dongying Island." Hearing this, Xu Yuan smiled and nodded. "Rest assured, I've naturally taken that into account." With that, Xu Yuan slowly pulled down his middle finger. "First point: precisely what you just noted. Word of Orenli's disappearance will inevitably be sent back through some channel. Once they realize the Great Yan Dynasty's stance, they will go all out to conquer the entirety of Dongying Island to prepare for war." Li Junqing cut in abruptly, "Isn't that bad news? The Sien Empire's stance toward Great Yan isn't even clear yet. Acting like this is no different from declaring war outright." "Declaring war?" Xu Yuan muttered the words, his voice tinged with disdain. "An empire that launched a surprise assault on Dongying right off the bat—do you honestly believe they would choose to open trade with Great Yan after finishing off Dongying Island, once they've thoroughly grasped our internal situation?" "..." Li Junqing fell silent. He raised his eyes to gaze at the full moon in the pitch-black sky for several breaths before speaking in a low voice, "Yet Great Yan's navy is hardly formidable. If Dongying completely falls, what do you plan to do about a naval war when the time comes?" The fourteen provinces of the Central Plains were fertile and abundant, with seventy to eighty percent of the land still undeveloped and unassimilated. There was simply no need to maintain a powerful navy for overseas expansion, leaving the naval warfare tech tree entirely unlit. Xu Yuan's reply remained somewhat ambiguous. "That is indeed bad news, but by the same token, it's also good news." "How so?" Li Junqing frowned. Xu Yuan weighed his words for a moment and asked in a low voice, "If the Wa people suffer a total rout, do you believe the single battalion of elites I'm lending you can turn the tide on the entire island of Dongying?" "Of course not." Li Junqing gave an immediate denial. "No matter how you look at it, this is a war between nations. Even if your promise pans out and I add the Imperial Guard troops Imperial Father allotted me, they could at most serve as a surprise strike force in the battle for Dongying..." At this, Li Junqing sighed softly. "Fine, I think I understand what you mean. If the Wa people can hold the defensive line, there's no need to care about the Sienese attitude. But if the Wa people crumble instantly before them, then this prince won't even need to go over there anymore. We can just wait until Imperial Father and the others have settled everything and can spare their hands to deal with these guests from across the sea." "Exactly. Going over there would just be throwing your life away." Xu Yuan nodded, then pulled down his ring finger. "Now for the second point. By interrogating Orenli, we can directly extract a massive amount of intelligence regarding the Kingdom of Sien—from their empire's military strength and cultivation methods to their internal power struggles. I imagine you have no objections to that?" "What if they have methods to resist interrogation?" "Then we deal with whatever comes. Whether it's your family's Imperial Prison and Heavenly Prison, or my family's Black Prison, there should be plenty of ways to interrogate someone." "And the third point?" "The third point, and the most important one." As Xu Yuan spoke, he curled his pinky in as well, clenching his hand into a fist, and gave a leering grin. "Aren't you interested in her?" "..." Li Junqing stared blankly. "Haha, just joking." Xu Yuan burst into laughter. Looking at Li Junqing's thoroughly constipated expression, he said with a soft chuckle, "In short, since conflict is unavoidable, we might as well take the initiative." Li Junqing snorted softly, his fingertips tapping the railing. "Then how do I account for this to Imperial Father? Plenty of people know this prince granted them an audience tonight. If something happens to those two, this prince will never be able to shake the blame." *Pfft.* Hearing that, Xu Yuan scoffed openly, enunciating each word with care. "The Emperor assigning you there—doesn't that already mean he has granted you full authority over the matter of the Sien Empire? Besides, do you really think His Majesty hasn't thought of the things we've thought of?" Li Junqing pondered for a moment, then finally nodded. "Fine. But those two shouldn't be weak. The two of us probably can't take them." "Heh." Xu Yuan chuckled under his breath and turned to walk from the balcony back into the private room. "In half a month, arrange to meet the two of them outside Di'an City. I will arrange the manpower to handle it, and absolutely nothing will go wrong." Li Junqing turned to watch Xu Yuan's departing figure and asked in a low voice, "Are you planning to ask Lou Ji for help?" "Lou Ji is busy with other matters for the time being." Moonlight spilled into the room, and the cold wind gently ruffled the curtains. Xu Yuan's voice drifted out from the quiet interior: "When that day comes, I'll bring Xu Changge along."