Defeat Ren Tianye, and you'll be the hero

Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan was extremely pleased with his trusted aide’s attitude. Now that was what a truly loyal subordinate should be like!

With a subordinate like this, he was the true King of the Yangtze.

Unfortunately, that satisfaction did not last long. Great General Zhou Mengyan soon furrowed his brow again.

“Zhang Shi must indeed be eliminated!”

“But…”

“How do we eliminate him?”

“With Zhang Shi’s current influence, if we openly launch an attack against him, it will inevitably throw the entire military camp into chaos.”

“Ren Tianye has been training the navy across the Yangtze every day. According to our spies, under Lu Chaosheng’s training, his navy has already begun to take shape!”

“If our own navy falls into disorder as well, what will we do if Ren Tianye launches an attack?”

“Besides…”

Zhou Mengyan was deep in thought. “How could Zhang Shi be easy to deal with? His influence in the army is certainly inferior to mine at present, but with his abilities, even if he had only one-tenth of my forces, he could still stir up a storm!”

“I…”

“How am I supposed to make a move against him?”

Zhou Mengyan was speaking the truth.

According to the information obtained from his trusted aide, quite a few people in the army had been swayed by Zhang Shi and pledged themselves to him. However, Zhang Shi had only just begun his efforts, and he had not yet recruited enough people. For now…

The advantage was his!

But what good was having the advantage? Zhang Shi was simply too difficult to deal with!

Zhou Mengyan was asking him for advice, but the trusted aide had no idea how to answer. This was not his area of expertise, so all he could do was emphasize the obvious.

“No matter what, Zhang Shi has to be eliminated!”

“If Zhang Shi doesn’t die, there will never be peace in our military camp!”

Zhou Mengyan nodded, deeply agreeing with him. He glanced at his trusted aide and suddenly said, “How about this? You go and kill Zhang Shi!”

“Once you’ve killed Zhang Shi, I’ll promote you to Deputy Commander. From then on, your position in the military camp will be second only to mine!”

The trusted aide froze.

He pointed at himself. “Me?”

“I’m supposed to go kill Zhang Shi?”

Then his face crumpled as he said, “Grand Commander, Zhang Shi is the man who uprooted his enemies and swept across the northern frontier. After coming to our military camp, he drew his blade and killed twenty-seven naval commanders in one breath. I’m supposed to kill Zhang Shi?”

“Grand Commander, you’re giving me far too much credit!”

“How about we make a proper plan instead? We should strive to deliver a fatal blow to Zhang Shi!”

Zhou Mengyan was somewhat disappointed. He had originally placed great hopes in his trusted aide, but he had not expected the man to refuse the pressure outright. In that case… they could only plan carefully.

After discussing the matter with his trusted aide for another half an hour, they came up with quite a few proposals. They could invite Zhang Shi to a banquet and ambush him with axemen, send an elite unit into his camp in the middle of the night, or even poison his food.

However, although they had plenty of ideas, neither of them ultimately dared to make a decision. Zhou Mengyan could not help missing his wife. If she were here, she would certainly help him make up his mind!

“Ah, my wife has left…”

“No, no, no… I can’t think about my wife. I, Zhou Mengyan, intend to climb to the top step by step through my own efforts. I can’t rely on anyone else!”

“Today…”

“I must finalize a plan, and then…”

“Launch a fatal strike against Zhang Shi!”

Zhou Mengyan threw himself into his plans once more.

At that very moment, Zhang Shi—the man Zhou Mengyan intended to eliminate—was reading a letter.

There was a small mark on the envelope, indicating the identity of the sender.

It was a letter from Ren Tianye!

After reading every word, Zhang Shi tossed the envelope into the brazier. Only after watching it burn completely to ashes did he finally relax.

His eyes were already shining.

“Lord Duke’s navy has made it!”

“They’re about to attack the Yangtze defense line!”

“Wonderful! I’ve finally waited for this day!”

Zhang Shi had pledged himself to Zhou Mengyan precisely to seize the Yangtze defense line. After lying low for so long, the opportunity had finally arrived. How could he not be delighted?

However, he had excellent control over his emotions and did not let his joy cloud his judgment. He quickly calmed down and began analyzing the situation before him.

“Lord Duke will be attacking soon. Before he arrives, I must throw the entire military camp along the Yangtze defense line into complete chaos!”

“That way, when Lord Duke attacks, the resistance will be as weak as possible. Only then will my contribution be the greatest, allowing me to firmly surpass Wang Ming!”

“In that case…”

“I have to speed up the recruitment!”

Zhang Shi’s gaze sharpened as he thought.

“At present, the vast majority of the people in the military camp are still loyal to Zhou Mengyan. At the rate I’m developing, I’ll never keep up with the changes. I have to be faster—faster, and faster still…”

“Or perhaps…”

“I should reveal my cards outright?!”

“Tell everyone in the military camp that I intend to compete with Zhou Mengyan for power and force them to choose a side? That way, I can win over even more people?”

Zhang Shi seriously considered the matter.

Before he could reach an answer, Ruan Fei’s voice suddenly came from outside the camp.

“General Zhang Shi, are you there? Are you there?”

“I have an urgent matter to discuss with you!”

“It concerns life and death!”

Zhang Shi set aside all his thoughts, put on a spirited expression, and went out to welcome Ruan Fei inside. With a smile, he asked, “Miss Ruan Fei, what’s wrong?”

“What’s the matter?”

Ruan Fei’s face was a picture of misery. “General Zhang Shi, it’s still about that same matter. Ning Wanqin has already come three times, going back and forth to relay Gu Qingyue’s orders. She looks as though she intends to make me pay!”

“Before, you told me that as long as I continued developing and became strong enough, the position of Grand Commander would naturally be mine. I did exactly as you said, and everything was going well at first. But now…”

“Brother Mengyan suddenly suspended the inspection squad I established. I have neither authority nor influence in my hands anymore. How am I supposed to contend with Gu Qingyue?”

“General Zhang Shi, tell me…”

“Do I still have any chance of becoming Grand Commander?”

It was more of the same tiresome, trivial nonsense. The Zhang Shi of the past would have dismissed it completely, but the Zhang Shi of today not only listened attentively, he also secretly analyzed the pros and cons in his mind.

Then…

With a solemn expression, Zhang Shi said, “Miss Ruan, this is indeed a major problem for you. That’s why you must build up sufficient influence. When the time comes, not only will you have the authority to speak before the Grand Commander, even a mere Gu Qingyue will have no choice but to respect you as Grand Commander!”

“I know that!” Ruan Fei shook her head in distress. “But right now… my influence simply isn’t strong enough, and Brother Mengyan has suspended my inspection authority. I, I… I don’t know what to do next…”

Zhang Shi cut her off and then spat out two decisive words.

“Earn merit!”

Ruan Fei was stunned. “Earn merit?”

“That’s right. Earn merit. As long as you produce results worthy of recognition, the entire army will naturally look at you differently, and the Grand Commander will trust you again. Then you’ll have both power and influence!”

Ruan Fei pondered this, then nodded. “That… really is a good idea. But where can I find merit to earn?”

An idea was already on the verge of emerging in Zhang Shi’s mind. However, it was so outrageous that it would be difficult for anyone to believe, so he had kept it suppressed all this time. Now, after carefully weighing the matter, he finally hardened his heart.

“Damn it. There are hardly any normal minds among these people anyway. I might as well give it a try!”

Then Zhang Shi declared loudly, “Of course there is! There’s a heaven-sent opportunity for an enormous achievement right before us!”

“Ren Tianye!”

“As long as you can hold off Ren Tianye’s attack, won’t the Grand Commander look at you in a whole new light?”

“Could Gu Qingyue refuse to make you the Grand Commander?”

Ruan Fei’s eyes lit up at once. “That’s right! As long as I defeat Ren Tianye, wouldn’t that be an achievement of the highest order?”

“By then, I’ll have everything!”

Zhang Shi’s body swayed.

Even he hadn’t dared believe they could succeed when he said those words. And Ruan Fei… had agreed just like that?

“She’s really that easy to fool?”

“Now I understand how Wang Ming managed to make a great general commit suicide in front of the army!”

Zhang Shi’s confidence soared, and he prepared to continue bamboozling her!

…