ITVCFITB CHAPTER 113

 Chapter 113 — Keep Attacking

While roles were being upended inside the palace, the Third Prince’s manor was already ringed tight. Luo Shuyu kept Chongchong at his side, just in case.

In their past life, Li Mingjin hadn’t maintained many shadow guards. In this life he did, plus a thousand elite retainers he’d brought back from Gucheng. Half of them now formed the outer cordon around the Third Prince’s estate.

From the reports flowing in, Luo Shuyu learned the Fourth Prince had moved first; that meant Li Mingjin would act when the time was ripe. If the Fourth Prince believed in the secret-chamber edict and hadn’t checked its contents, he’d never know it had been switched, buying Li Mingjin time. In any case, Luo Shuyu trusted Mingjin’s arrangements. They had years more hard-earned experience than the Fourth Prince. In a straight fight, Li Mingjin never lost momentum and never lost a battlefield.

Because they couldn’t afford to.

Even so, Luo Shuyu worried Shen Mingyun might bring his system to the Third Prince’s doors. His own safety was Chongchong’s safety. He couldn’t fall this time.

He ordered the shadow guards and the household troops to seal the estate tight. Not one enemy step inside.

Waiting was the hardest part but patience he had in spades. Mingjin had his layout; Luo Shuyu had his.

His targets, from beginning to end, were only Shen Mingyun and the system.

What props would Shen pull out this time?

Soon enough, word came: Shen Mingyun was approaching the neighborhood with troops. A lot of them were Imperial Guards.

Luo Shuyu asked, “What about elsewhere? Are the officials’ families in the city mostly under control?”

“Yes,” the scout said. “Relatives of officials across the capital have been seized. Those without court standing are penned together; those who normally attend court are in the palace with His Highness.”

“So their plan is to lock down the capital,” Luo Shuyu murmured.

“Fourth Prince Consort is closing in. Should we take him now?”

“Not yet. Watch his first move. If he strikes, try to seize him, do not get close. Bring plenty of flour. If he vanishes, dust the streets so we can trace his footprints. Remember?”

“Understood.”

“And be wary, there may be a top expert guarding him. Don’t underestimate him, he’s not like the others. Oh, and the team watching the Fourth Prince’s residence can move, bring those two children to our manor as ‘guests.’”

“Yes.”

Luo Shuyu knew Shen Mingyun’s siege had one goal: capture him and Chongchong to use as chips against the Third Prince in the palace and to neutralize him outright. But Luo Shuyu had no intention of letting Shen succeed. He would return the favor in kind.

Breaking into the Third Prince’s estate wouldn’t be easy. Archers lined the walls, and nearly a hundred guards by Luo Shuyu’s side were trained with fire-locks.

It was time to turn over the pieces they’d set years ago. The Fourth Prince would never imagine how far back the planning went.

Counting his pieces steadied Luo Shuyu. He had plenty of chips.

He took Chongchong to the main hall to sit in command. Keeping the child in sight reminded him why he’d been given another life and gave him strength against Shen Mingyun and that unknown system.

Shen’s force was sizable, but the Third Prince’s side was ready. The south street had been cleared, an invitation into the urn.

Shen Mingyun rode at the head in a custom battle robe he’d recently commissioned, tight, body-hugging, “dashing” in his own words.

Prince Zhou (the Second Prince of Zhou) rode beside him by the Fourth Prince’s order: keep Shen safe and never let him be captured.

Shen’s gaze wandered over the high walls with appreciation; Zhou’s weighed the street: a thoroughfare that should be bustling now lay silent, too silent. Not even a rat.

“Don’t you think it’s too quiet?” Zhou asked.

Shen had visited the Third Prince’s estate before; it dwarfed the Fourth Prince’s. If they toppled Li Mingjin today, he meant to claim this place as a private retreat.

“Quiet is good,” he said breezily. “No need to clear civilians ourselves or deal with nosy crowds.”

He sounded exactly like the Fourth Prince, blithely unworried. Zhou couldn’t refute the surface logic, but his instincts prickled.

“Better halt and scout ahead. I suspect an ambush.”

Shen, itching to bag that perpetually disdainful Luo Shuyu, waved him off. “It’s barely a li. No point. With walls this high, an ambush is more trouble than it’s worth.”

Zhou held his tongue. The vanguard would take the first hit anyway.

A li passed quickly.

They crossed into the outer perimeter of the Third Prince’s grounds.

Outsiders were blind; insiders saw everything.

By Luo Shuyu’s side, a guard asked, “Do we strike first?”

“No. Let them move; then reveal nothing we don’t have to,” Luo Shuyu said.

“Yes. I’ll keep observing.”

Luo Shuyu figured that a modern man who’d never seen blood wouldn’t personally kill, Shen would bark orders and demand he come out to parley.

Shen and Zhou reached the front approach. Household guards barred the flanks tight. They couldn’t advance on the main gate.

Shen called grandly, “Tell Luo Shuyu to come out, or don’t blame me for being merciless!”

Silence.

Shen’s face burned. “All units, take the Third Prince’s estate within the half-hour! Fail and bring me your heads!”

Men eager for merit surged forward.

But this wasn’t a compound you “just took.” Li Mingjin had long since staged it to protect Luo Shuyu and Chongchong.

Arrowheads bristled along the walls like thorns, every one trained on Shen and Zhou.

Zhou’s face changed. “Bad, look at the walls!”

Shen blanched. He feared death as much as anyone and his points balance was low; he couldn’t redeem much. He’d been neglecting “quests.”

Survival first. Blindingly charging a seasoned commander who bled his way up from the front, who read tactics, had a first-rate strategist was suicide.

Their faulty premise: that Mingjin’s strength lay only in Gucheng and the capital was theirs. They never considered Mingjin had seeded the capital years ago. They were fish on someone else’s chopping block.

“What do we do?” Shen stammered.

“Fall back!” Zhou snapped.

“Okay!”

Too late. Hidden archers along the route loosed as one; the Imperial Guard vanguard fell like wheat.

Shen and Zhou were turtles in a pot.

Back in the main hall, Luo Shuyu hadn’t expected Shen to be this careless, this easy.

Since they’d come, they wouldn’t be leaving.

He sipped his tea. “Report.”

“Your Excellency, the Fourth Prince Consort is retreating, but he’s still under our fire. They won’t break out quickly; we’ve already cut about thirty percent.”

“Keep bleeding them. We’ve no reinforcements; they might. Don’t smash ourselves against them.”

“Yes.”

The estate guards were disciplined. If ordered not to pursue, they held.

Under a rain of arrows, Shen and Zhou scrambled out of range. Shen thumped his chest, alive, but too close!

He’d come “prepared,” but Luo Shuyu had prepared more. He’d underestimated them.

Still, he had to take this manor, his pride demanded it.

Humbled, he asked Zhou, “Brother Zhou, how do we crack it? Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu are too sly.”

The Fourth Prince had tasked them to seize the manor; Zhou took on the role of tactician.

“They’re hidden, we’re exposed. Only a frontal push. First, suppress the archers; the rest will follow. We don’t know their numbers. Any plants inside?”

“None. They keep it locked down. We can’t get anyone in.”

“Then bleed their arrows. After that, keep pressing, they’ll fold.”

Zhou’s steadiness made the plan sound plausible. In their minds, time favored them; Luo Shuyu couldn’t hold as long as the Imperial Guard could feed men and arrows.

Luo Shuyu knew different: he only had to hold until Li Mingjin finished the Fourth Prince.

With Zhou at his shoulder, Shen lifted his chin again. “Comrades, keep attacking! Take the Third Prince’s estate!”

This time, he did not lead from the front. He stayed well back, watching.

Zhou glanced over. “By the way, what does ‘comrades’ mean?”

---

Author’s Note:

Luo Shuyu: Tie Shen Mingyun up.

Shen Mingyun: W-what are you going to do to me? [shy]

Luo Shuyu: Chili-water and the tiger bench.

Shen Mingyun: …

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