The Eastern Palace.
"What... Your Highness intends to... to attack Dayue..."
Looking at the sickly Cheng Guang before him, Song Yu twitched the corner of his mouth fiercely.
"You've rarely taken leave. Rest properly at your residence today."
This relentless drive of his is truly a match for Shen San's. No wonder they both managed to prop up that useless Emperor Mingde onto the throne.
"I am very familiar with Dayue. Allow me to accompany you on this campaign. Perhaps it could save the lives of several soldiers."
For a moment, Song Yu seemed to see the former Dayue Prime Minister from his past life, who had tried to take his own life after being captured.
"Very well. Once you have recovered your health, I will take you along. It will also give His Majesty some peace and quiet."
Upon hearing this, Cheng Guang hurriedly expressed his gratitude, not even minding the teasing in Song Yu's words.
"Your Highness, have you considered under what pretext we will launch this campaign?"
Song Yu fell silent, evidently also constrained by this very question.
Previously, it was because Rong Lingchen secretly harmed His Majesty, giving Dagi a justifiable reason to send troops. But what about this time?
"I have a plan."
"Find someone terminally ill and nearing death. Promise them sufficient wealth and reputation to secure their wife and children's prosperity for life. Then, order them to serve as an envoy to Dayue and die there."
Song Yu was stunned.
But Cheng Guang gave a foolish-seeming laugh. "Throughout history books, the death of an envoy is the vanguard for an army pressing at the borders!"
The envoy's death is the bugle call for attack.
"Allow me to think on this."
After Cheng Guang left, Song Shihuan emerged from behind the screen.
"Ahuan, do you think Cheng Guang's plan is feasible?"
Song Shihuan pondered for a moment before speaking slowly, "Whether it's feasible is not for me to say, nor for you, Father. It is for those who meet the conditions to decide."
"If someone is willing to go as an envoy, then it is feasible."
"If no one is willing, then we should not force it."
"I understand," Song Yu said, gently pinching Song Shihuan's little face. "For this campaign, how about I take you along, Ahuan? I heard you mention before that your master taught you many battle formations. They might come in handy this time."
Song Shihuan nodded, yet a touch of desolation appeared.
"I wonder where Master is now... if he has abandoned me."
Thinking of the Qing Mountain Sect Leader, the smile on Song Yu's face faded slightly.
"Your master taught you so much, which shows he is very fond of you, our Ahuang. He must have encountered some difficulty. After the war, I will take you to find him."
Song Yu's words moved Song Shihuan. Yes, how could her master abandon her?
Thinking of this, a hint of urgency appeared in Song Shihuan's eyes. "Alright. When the time comes, Father will accompany me to find Master. I miss him very much."
......
After several days of searching, they indeed found a veteran soldier who perfectly met the requirements.
"If you are willing to serve as an envoy to Dayue, your wife and children will be well cared for and live in peace and comfort for the rest of their lives," Song Yu personally met with this veteran. "If you are unwilling, I will have you escorted safely back home."
The veteran soldier knelt before Song Yu. "Your Highness the Crown Prince, this humble general is old, but my heart is not old. I long to kill on the battlefield once more, and would be willing even to die."
"Now that such an opportunity exists, even without any reward, this humble general is willing to do it."
"If my dying body can be exchanged for Dagi's territory expanding twofold, I have no regrets."
His time was already short. If he could, in his final days, exchange it for an opportunity to found his own branch on the family register, it would be a blessing from heaven.
"What is your name?" Song Yu couldn't help but ask.
"This humble general is Xin Ling."
Before Xin Ling departed, Song Shihuan came running out to see him off.
"This is a flower unique to Dagi. I dried it. Please carry it with you. There is no need to long for Dagi, for in the near future, every place beneath your feet will belong to Dagi."
At this moment, Song Shihuan's eyes and brows were radiant with confidence, as vibrant as Dagi's future blooming with flowers.
"Thank you, Princess. This humble general... bids farewell."
Xin Ling went to Dayue under the pretext of celebrating the old Emperor of Dayue's birthday. On the second day after his arrival, during the old Emperor's birthday banquet, he made outrageous statements.
He said the old Emperor had only one month left to live.
"How dare you! How dare you speak such insolence! Are all those raised by Dagi as ill-mannered as you?"
Xin Ling, enraged to the point of vomiting blood, pointed at the noses of the Dayue imperial family. "You may insult me, but insulting Dagi is unacceptable! How can my Dagi suffer such humiliation!"
With that, he rushed towards a guard's waist sword, drew it, and slit his own throat.
Everything happened too suddenly. Dayue, looking at the lifeless Xin Ling, was utterly dumbstruck.
The envoy from Dagi was... strange.
It wasn't until Dagi's battle drums sounded the charge, and they attacked several Dayue cities under the pretext of seeking justice for Xin Ling, that Dayue realized they had been tricked.
Yet, the Dagi soldiers, who seemed to know Dayue's defenses inside out, descended like divine troops. No matter what, they always struck at the places Dayue couldn't grasp, delivering fatal blows.
Add to that Cheng Guang, who understood the temperament of the Dayue imperial family like the back of his hand, overseeing the army.
And Song Shihuan, who employed troops with god-like skill...
Song Yu hardly needed to do anything. With just a few simple words to boost morale, the army advanced straight to the capital of Dayue.
Standing once again outside the walls of the Dayue capital, Song Yu was filled with emotion.
This war was fought much more easily than before.
He had completely won by lying down.
"Your Highness, once we breach the capital, Dayue will be ours!" Cheng Guang's eyes shone, wishing he could charge right in.
He showed no sense of consciousness befitting someone originally from Dayue.
"Yu Fan."
Song Yu called to Yu Fan. At this moment, Yu Fan was surrounded by a palpable aura of killing intent. Throughout this campaign, the number of enemies Yu Fan had slain was countless.
"Your subordinate is here."
"Once we attack the capital later, remember to capture the Second Prince Rong Sheng and his son Rong Lingchen for me. I have some personal grievances with these two and need to settle them separately."
Hearing Song Yu's gritted-teeth tone, everyone present silently lit three metaphorical candles in their hearts for this father and son.
At this stage, offending the Crown Prince was no different from offending heaven itself.
......
At Song Yu's command, the army stormed into the Dayue capital.
Song Yu and Song Shihuan met the decrepit old Emperor of Dayue.
"How did our Dagi envoy offend you?" Song Yu asked with a somewhat roguish smile, but the young girl beside him had reddened eyes.
"He... he said I had only one month left to live."
The old Emperor's voice was full of panic. "If someone said that to your face, you would be angry too! And he slit his own throat; I did not order his death."
"Our Dagi envoy is dead. I have no heart to debate right and wrong now."
Song Yu, holding a dagger, swiftly plunged it into the old Emperor's heart.
"He wasn't wrong. You did indeed have only one month left to live, because one month later is now."
The old Emperor died, and the Dayue imperial family was captured in its entirety.
The once equally matched Dayue thus vanished from the pages of history.
"Ahuan, this past month, did you fight to your heart's content?"
"To my heart's content. It was exhilarating."
Song Shihuan rode her blood-sweating steed, her body slightly leaning forward, holding the reins. Her brow was filled with high spirits:
"Father, one day, all lands touched by the sun and moon, all places reached by rivers, will be the territory of our Dagi."
