Fang Wenshi and the Xu siblings were extremely angry with Zhong Heng for showing signs of ‘betrayal’.
“It goes without saying that Zhong Heng definitely wants to surrender to the Golden Roc Fort and benefit himself. He doesn’t care about our survival anymore, much less the Dragon King,” Fang Wenshi said to the Xu siblings; he came running to meet them once he heard that Zhong Heng had agreed to negotiate.
“All of the money belongs to the Dragon King, and no one can hope to take it away from me,” said Xu Xiaoyi. Once he arrived in the Stone Kingdom, he hid most of the bank notes away and became wary of everyone.
“I thought Zhong Heng was a pretty decent person…” said Xu Yanwei; she was enraged as well. “Military counselor, what do you think we should do?”
Fang Wenshi was full of ambition but he was not being valued enough around Zhong Heng. It had been a long time since he was able to demonstrate his capability and he treated the planning of this coup as a chance for him to keep himself sharp. “This is pretty easy. There’s no lack of people loyal to the Dragon King in the city and we should unite them and overthrow Zhong Heng. We’ll let… Xu Xiaoyi become Prime Minister and continue resisting the Golden Roc Fort. When the Dragon King…”
Xu Xiaoyi got a shock when he heard the counselor’s suggestion. He waved his hands in protest and replied, “No way, no way. I can’t become Prime Minister. Furthermore, I’m not brave. I can still handle those sneaky tasks, but I’ll chicken out if you ask me to go up the city walls.”
Fang Wenshi was waiting for him to reply in this manner. He patted his chest and replied generously, “Alright, then I shall help you out and become Prime Minister in this time of crisis.”
The Xu siblings did not have many opinions about his suggestion; they were more concerned about a concrete plan for their coup.
“I’ve a perfect candidate—Lin Xiaoshan. His loyalty to the Dragon King is unquestioned and the swordsmen he leads are all highly skilled. Furthermore, they’re Zhong Heng’s personal bodyguards and it’ll be easy to strike…”
“Er, we’re not really going to kill the Prime Minister, right?” Xu Xiaoyi was suddenly a little hesitant. “After all, he hasn’t said he’s going to surrender. Shouldn’t we at least find some evidence?”
Fang Wenshi shook his head vigorously out of habit. “If we don’t get rid of him now, it’ll become our problem in the future. It’ll be easy to gather evidence; we’ll let Zhong Heng negotiate with the Golden Roc Fort. During that time, he’ll show his true colors, and we’ll move once he thinks that he has succeeded.”
This suggestion got the immediate approval of the siblings.
That said, Xu Yanwei still had doubts about an issue. “There’s something not quite right with that Lin Xiaoshan,” she said.
“What about him? I think he seems pretty honest, and his respect for the Dragon King is sincere,” replied Fang Wenshi. He felt that he was pretty accurate at judging people and was therefore surprised at Xu Yanwei’s reaction.
“He… seems to be a little… with the Dragon King’s maid… I can’t put it to words, but whatever it is, they seem very close,” she replied. Xu Yanwei was extremely sensitive about such matters and could sometimes see how things really were even before the parties involved.
“The Dragon King’s maid? Jiang from the Great Snowmountain?” Fang Wenshi was more surprised now, but at the same time, he felt reassured as he was no longer the only person interested in the women belonging to Dragon King. “It’s alright. It shows that his loyalty is even more believable now.”
Just like this, the plot for the coup was decided upon.
Fang Wenshi had come up with a plan without even spending one hour.
Firstly, he would personally go to convince Lin Xiaoshan to secure the support of the Prime Minister’s personal guards.
The next step was for Xu Xiaoyi to make use of his personal strengths. He would keep a close watch on all the movements of the soldiers and citizens in the city to uncover those potential surrenders.
Last of all was for Xu Yanwei to participate as well. She would request to take part in the upcoming talks as Special Envoy of the royal family of the Stone Kingdom so as to gather first hand evidence of Zhong Heng’s intention to surrender. She was most suited to undertake such a task as she was a woman and her participation would not arouse the suspicion of Zhong Heng.
The talks were to take place during noon time of the next day; the three of them had to act immediately.
The Xu siblings completed their tasks without any hiccups but Zhong Heng met with some difficulties; Lin Xiaoshan was loyal to the Dragon King but did not believe that the Prime Minister would surrender. Also, he did not wish to take part in the coup.
Fang Wenshi spent a considerable amount of time trying to persuade Lin Xiaoshan. He pointed out all the signs to Zhong Heng’s upcoming betrayal but the macheteman’s stubborness was beyond his imagination. He had no choice but to use his trump card. “Lin Xiaoshan, to be honest, I’ve always trusted you. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have roped you in. I’ve always brushed away rumors about you, but now it seems like… haha.”
“I’ve nothing to hide,” Lin Xiaoshan replied calmly. He was neither a swordsman from the Great Snowmountain nor a macheteman working under Tuo Nengya—he was following the Dragon King entirely out of his own free will.
“Is that so? Would you dare to repeat that in front of Jiang?”
Lin Xiaoshan blushed rose, his hand on the hilt of his saber. “What do you mean by that?”
Fang Wenshi raised his teacup and slowly enjoyed his tea, not lifting his eyes to look at Lin Xiaoshan. “Why, are you planning to kill me to keep it a secret?”
Lin Xiaoshan blushed even more. He let go of his saber and sat down in a flurry. “Don’t spout nonsense, military counselor. I respect Jiang and my loyalty toward the Dragon King is comparable to the others.”
“Loyalty is not expressed in words but by actions. Now’s your chance,” replied Fang Wenshi. He was secretly pleased with himself, while realizing what a close shave it was. If Xu Yanwei had not let slip that piece of previously unimportant information, he would be in an awkward situation now.
“The successful defense of the city up till now is due almost entirely to the Prime Minister’s efforts. We can’t just overthrow him just like this.”
“Of course, it’s a huge taboo to change commanders in the midst of an ongoing war. Therefore, we have to gather evidence first and Xu Yanwei is working on it now. You have to play a part too.”
Lin Xiaoshan agreed to join in reluctantly on the condition that there had to be concrete evidence that the Prime Minister was preparing to betray the Dragon King and surrender to the Golden Roc Fort.
The plot was slowly taking shape. Fang Wenshi could feel the excitement coming from his bones and did not dare to visit Zhong Heng for fear that he would divulge his real intentions by accident.
During midday of the next day, the talks began exactly on time. As both parties were distrustful of each other, it took a lot of back and forth before the site for the talks was decided upon. Eventually, the coalition forces besieging the city made concessions. They retreated about five kilometers away from the city gate and then cleared a space to set up a sole tent located between the encampment of the coalition forces and the city gate.
Lin Xiaoshan checked the tent first to make sure that there was no ambush before releasing a signal toward the city. It was only then when Zhong Heng came out of the city gate toward the tent.
Zhong Heng had no choice but to agree to the talks. There were extremely few people loyal to the Dragon King in the capital of the Stone Kingdom; most of the citizens did not even know how he looked like. If it were not for the miscalculation on the part of the coalition forces by looting and razing, which stirred up intense hatred of the civilians, the defense of the city would most likely have failed long ago.
He had to prove to many people in the city that the talks were just a plot and that the Golden Roc Fort could never be trusted.
It was extremely risky, but he did not have any other option available.
Dugu Xian, the Commander of the coalition forces, had already arrived and greeted Zhong Heng politely.
It was the same Dugu Xian that had engaged in many battles with the forces of the Great Snowmountain and who claimed that the Dragon King had already perished in a snow storm.
According to their agreement, both commanders could only bring along two attendants and five guards. The guards were to stand watch outside the tent while the attendants could enter.
Dugu Xian’s attendants were his advisors, while those of Zhong Heng’s looked a little out of place. One of them was a gorgeous woman while the other, an elderly civilian. It seemed that he was not too clear about his role in the negotiations and insolently took measure of Dugu Xian in secret. At the same time, he seemed to be extremely ill at ease.
Zhong Heng briefly explained the backgrounds of his attendants. “She’s a maid in the royal palace and represents the royal family of the Stone Kingdom. He’s an elder elected by our people.”
Dugu Xian managed to keep his surprise well hidden.
The two commanders exchanged pleasantries, speaking about things such as how they had admired each other for a long while before turning back to signal their attendants to leave them alone; the talks were to proceed in privacy.
Xu Yanwei was extremely unwilling to leave the tent, but it was a procedure that had already been agreed upon earlier; she could not insist on remaining behind.
All 10 bodyguards from both sides were on high alert outside the tent; their right hands were hanging closely to their weapons. It seemed like a fight would break out anytime.
Xu Yanwei squinted at Lin Xiaoshan. She was the only person without fear in the tense environment, she even felt that she was in her natural environment.
She was surrounded by men and did not feel that there was anything to be afraid of.
Her many years of professional experience gave her many useful insights, and one of them was that men were always putting on a mask. Publicly they would act dignified and honorable and it was only in private that they would show their true colors.
After observing for a while, she picked a suitable target out of the seven men accompanying Dugu Xian. She walked toward him and presented herself as shy and ignorant, saying softly, “Er, I don’t know anything; I’ve never attended such an event before. What should we do while our two superiors are negotiating inside?”
The man was one of Dugu Xian’s attendants and about 40 years of age. His face was stern and horse-like, and he was the only one who did not even so much as give Xu Yanwei a glance since the start of the talks. His eyelids drooped a little upon hearing her question and he replied coldly, “Ask that person beside you.”
“Them? Those bearing weapons don’t know a thing and the old man is half deaf… Ah, did I do something wrong? I shouldn’t be speaking to you. What should I do? His Majesty and the Princess entrusted me with the task…”
The horse-faced man frowned upon seeing that the ‘weak and helpess’ gorgeous girl was so worried that she about to cry. He waved his hands impatiently at her before turning his head and giving a signal to his envious companions, showing that he planned to gather intelligence from the enemy. “What? Does the king not trust your Prime Minister?”
Xu Yanwei covered her mouth anxiously. “No, no, his Majesty trusts the Prime Minister very much. He passes the most important tasks to him.”
“Erm, that’s good then. I was worried that the Prime Minister had selfish motives and would be unwilling to pass on all of our side’s conditions to the king as they were.”
Xu Yanwei’s eyes gleamed and raised her head to look at the horse-faced man. She looked like a devout believer gazing at a revered master. “How do you know what his Majesty is thinking about? You… I…” she said.
“I can deduce such simple matters,” the horse-faced man replied, looking a little proud. “Let’s head over there to speak. Then you can pass on our goodwill to His Majesty.”
Both of them headed to the back of the tent and whispered to each other before returning to its entrance after 15 minutes. The horse-faced man gave another meaningful glance to his companions, showing that the plan had succeeded.
At the same time, Xu Yanwei gave the same signal to Lin Xiaoshan, signifying that she had got the evidence.
Lin Xiaoshan was still hesitant; the passing on of the evidence seemed to be done a little randomly. Even if the Golden Roc Fort offered tempting conditions for surrender, there was a possibility that the Prime Minister may not accept them.
Xu Yanwei was a little impatient and stamped her feet lightly, urging Lin Xiaoshan to act quickly.
After considering for a while, Lin Xiaoshan came to a decision and shook his head slowly at Xu Yanwei.
Xu Yanwei was surprised and angry. Just as she was about to drop a clearer hint to him a sudden, frantic shout came from the tent, “You’re tricking us!”
The shout came from Dugu Xian.
This time round, even Xu Yanwei was at a loss as to what to do.
Dugu Xian’s two attendants rushed one after the other into the tent; their actions were even more swiftly than the other five guards; they were evidently first-class kung fu masters.
Someone around Xu Yanwei dashed into the tent as well; his action was also as quick as Dugu Xian’s attendants. He was neither Lin Xiaoshan nor one of his four swordsmen; it was the elderly man walking unsteadily just not long ago.