There would probably never be direct evidence that Maid Lotus had intervened in his sex life. Gu Shenwei could only blame himself. He was ashamed at his temporary lapse of self-control.
Zhong Heng’s reminder was timely. There were not much gossip yet about his three days of abnormal behavior. But if it went on like this, the Dragon King would end up just like an ordinary king; he would be no different from the weak royal families of the five countries of Xiaoyao Lake or the kings of the Western Region, who combusted as quickly as they shone.
He had always thought that his inner demons were superficial, but now, he realized that properly stoked, they could overcome his self-control.
Now that he had tasted the satisfaction in indulging, it would not be easy to keep it under control in the future.
It was just like when he had tried to get rid of the influence of “Breaking Obsession” back in the day. He had had to resort to building up a more persistent killing desire to break free from the effects of the scripture. He had to defeat the monster of desire with more ruthless means.
That evening, the Princess was escorted back to the royal palace in the city.
The clueless Princess was dressed up and waiting for the Dragon King. Though shy, she was looking forward to satiating her own desire. He was no longer a snobbish and murderous demon, but a man who was about to give her pleasure and bring her to nirvana. Even the countless scars that once made her tremble with fear now aroused her. She longed for the feeling of friction and to rub against his coarse body.
All of a sudden, with no explanation, no consolation, no promise and without even bothering to appear, the Dragon King wanted to get rid of her.
The Princess could not help but ask, “Why?”
Long Fanyun, who was in charge of escorting the Princess to her palace, felt awkward. The Dragon King hadn’t given a reason, but he couldn’t tell her this so bluntly. “Your Highness, the King is very busy. The army of the Golden Roc Fort is coming and the barracks are not safe, so…”
She had hoped that the Dragon King would tell her himself. Even if the Dragon King lied to her face, she would still feel she was being treated with respect. But now, she was about to be sent away like a prostitute. She was deeply hurt, and every drop of desire turned into anger and confusion.
She didn’t want to argue with a captain of the guards and would not reason with the Dragon King directly. Instead, she nodded haughtily, “Prepare the carriage.”
That said, she did not accept her fate. The Dragon King was a human being and a man. She did not believe that she had not been able to win his heart after three days of intense lovemaking.
Xu Yanwei was even more surprised and angry than the Princess at the Dragon King’s rudeness. She barged into more than 10 tents before finally finding him. Panting, she asked, “Why did you drive the Princess away?”
Zhong Heng and Dugu Xian, who were in the tent, excused themselves tactfully. The matter they had been discussing had already been settled and there was no need to discuss it any further.
Xu Yanwei could not recall exactly when she had begun to feel as if she had an unshirkable responsibility to watch over the personal affairs of the Dragon King as a mother or elder sister would. Similarly, Gu Shenwei could not remember when he had inexplicably accepted such a relationship.
“I didn’t drive her away.” Gu Shenwei answered in a cold tone, but still tried to defend himself. “This is the barracks, and there should not have been a woman living here. As the leader, I should not be breaking the rules while asking my officers and soldiers to abide by them. The wedding is over, that’s it.”
“What about me? I am also a woman, am I not allowed to live in the barracks?”
“Well, you have to go back to the palace with the Queen.”
Xu Yanwei couldn’t control her temper. She couldn’t understand why men in this world always left after having got what they wanted. A woman’s expectations were not high. A few nice words and a small gift was enough to make them happy. She had thought that the Dragon King would be different. She didn’t expect that he too would disappoint her.
“Don’t you realize that now that she has married you the Princess is your woman? How could you let her go back to the palace? The King is a selfish person who has no feelings for his sister. You are pushing her back into the fire.”
“Even if she has to go back to the palace, couldn’t you personally escort her? She is the Princess of a country, and her face is more important than her life. How ashamed she must feel going back to her parents’ home alone!”
Gu Shenwei hadn’t meant to embarrass the princess. But he knew how strong his desire was, and it would rear its ugly head again without much prompting. He did not want to visit the Princess because he was afraid he could not keep his hands off her. It was not because he was cold-hearted.
“As my woman she should think about me. With the Golden Roc Fort still standing, I don’t have time to worry about the matters of women.”
“Ha, women’s matters? You want to be a real man now? What’s the matter with you and Miss Ru? You killed her husband and then gave her a country. And what is going on between you and Maid Lotus? You two are almost inseparable every day, but I don’t see you giving her an official title. Is making women cry a way to show your masculinity?”
Xu Yanwei was outraged. All the cheating men she had suffered over the past years came to her mind at this moment. The Dragon King was their representative now. Even the fact that they had not slept together before became one of his crimes against women. “This is what men are like: a lover at night, and a stranger the next day. What about their promises? So many men promised to take me away from South City, and they all turned out to be cheaters…. They beg you to have sex with them even more humbly than the lowest slave. But see what they do to you once they’ve slept with you? If I practiced Kung Fu, I would dig all your hearts out for an inspection…”
Xu Yanwei began to digress. It seemed that she was thinking of the Dragon King as her enemy. She was waving her limbs about emotionally and her voice was getting louder and louder.
Gu Shenwei was surprised at how her petite body could contain so much rage and also at how she managed to blame all men for all sorts of transgressions.
He clapped his hands. Two tall guards came in from outside the tent. Both were swordsman from the Great Snowmountain.
“What are you doing? Now you are using force on me because you know I’m right? Why do men only want to bully women? Think about it. Who carried you in her arms and raised you? Think about your mother. Don’t you blush with shame?”
Gu Shenwei had many things to do. He needed to clear his mind and forget about the Princess and Xu Yanwei, as well as all the other women. Everything was more important than women right now.
Before Xu Yanwei came in, he had been discussing how to deal with the Golden Roc Fort with Zhong Heng and Du Guxian.
Before Xu Yanwei came in, he had been discussing how to deal with the Golden Roc Fort with Zhong Heng and Du Guxian
According to intelligence gathered by his spy, the Golden Roc Fort’s troops were increasing everyday in Shuangquan Village across the desert and there were countless stores of grain and fodder. It looked like the Golden Roc Fort’s troops were busy preparing for the war in Spring.
The Supreme King was determined to take Xiaoyao Lake. Though he had always been confident in defeating the Dragon army, he wanted it done in a fast and impressive way.
“It will be a big show for Norland to see.” Zhong Heng was always insightful, and he was once again correct. “It is said that Norland is making huge plans to fight against the Central Plains at the turn of summer and fall. The Golden Roc Fort hopes to play an important role in the battle. In order to do that he will need to show his military strength this spring first.”
With his only arm, Dugu Xian pointed here and there quickly on the map and said, “Although Xiaoyao Lake is easy to defend and difficult to attack, there are only two barriers that can be used as natural strongholds—the desert and the great lake. Everywhere else is flat and smooth, and the outnumbering party has an absolute advantage. The desert is crucial. Only by keeping the desert can the Dragon army retain Xiaoyao Lake. I am worried that if the Golden Rock Fort army keeps expanding, we may end up dying in vain. We are only a little more than 10,000 strong.”
The total number of the Dragon army was close to 20,000. However, they had to be dispatched to guard the 5 countries of Xiaoyao Lake. Therefore the main force that could be mobilized now had only a little more than 14,000 soldiers, far less than that of the Golden Roc Fort.
“Have the five countries continue to recruit soldiers. We need at least 10 thousand more soldiers,” said Dugu Xian.
Dugu Xian’s proposal was from a military point of view. Zhong Heng identified a few administrative difficulties in this proposal and voiced his opinion. “The 5 countries are all hiding the true number of their population. Without cooperation from the royal families, it is even more difficult to recruit soldiers. In addition, the more soldiers there are, the more serious the shortage of grain and armor will be.”
Gu Shenwei had been considering this issue for some time. He had seen people who would rather hide in the capital and beg for a living than join the Dragon army. The royal families of the 5 kingdoms turned a blind eye to this. They were all hesitating because they were afraid of what would happen to the most loyal supporters of the Dragon army if it was defeated.
“I’m afraid compulsory recruitment is not a good choice. Let’s buy an army.”
A large part of the Golden Roc Fort’s army was employed machetemen. Gu Shenwei believed this could be a possible solution.
“But where do we find that much money?” Zhong Heng asked. As Prime Minister, he was most clear about the economic status of the Dragon army. With Xu Xiaoyi’s stockpile and the wealth in the Land of Fragrance, the Dragon army indeed owned a huge amount of money. However, it was still not enough to cover the daily expenses of the entire army. The swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain and some extremely loyal soldiers had even volunteered to not get paid.
In the whole Western Region, it was probable that only the Meng family of Jade City could afford to hire 10 thousand soldiers.
Gu Shenwei came up with an idea. “We have no money, but we have land.”
“Land, which land?” Puzzled at first and then suddenly enlightened, Zhong Heng replied, “Yes. The Dragon King has a large piece of fertile land.”
Dugu Xian was always slow in such matters. It took him a while to catch on. “Sir, are you talking about the Land of Fragrance? Isn’t it inhabited? Besides, it’s across the mountain. The common people of Xiaoyao Lake may not be interested in it.”
Before the Dragon King could speak, Zhong Heng explained excitedly that although he had not been to the Land of Fragrance, every few days he received supplies from there. “There are not enough residents in the Land of Fragrance in comparison with the vast land there. Thanks to the narrow-minded nobles, there are many uninhabited areas in the Land of Fragrance. The nobles have been taking various measures to keep the residents within a very limited number because they were afraid it would be too hard for them to control them if there are too many residents.”
“Although there is a great amount of land in the 5 countries of Xiaoyao Lake, the terrain is mostly barren. And many people have become refugees since the war. To them, a fertile field is more attractive than gold, silver or jewelry.”
“Then the only remaining problem is the shortage of hay and armor,” Gu Shenwei said. He went on explaining that this problem could be solved quickly. Wushan’s refined iron was the best in the world. Now that they had the territory in their hand, there was no need to worry about steel or iron. As for hay, the only solution was to collect it gradually.
“And another thing is training. Without training the recruits are just a motley force, no matter how many they are. It takes time to train them into soldiers. We have to do that.” Zhong Heng said. He was most concerned about this issue.
And that was when Xu Yanwei had rushed in.
After Xu Yanwei was dragged away, Gu Shenwei caught up with his interrupted idea. There were more problems ahead than “the only problem”, grain and armor. One problem would be land distribution, which would not be without issues. Another problem would be the Golden Roc killers, who were currently honoring the ceasefire. However, once war broke out, there would be swarms of them flooding into Xiaoyao Lake.
The oncoming attack from the Golden Roc Fort would be unprecedentedly fierce, as the Golden Roc Fort had been saving its strength from the previous wars for this attack.
Maid Lotus approached him. She was like a shadow, always appearing when he most needed her to solve some tricky problem.
And she was also one of his problems. Gu Shenwei was wondering what tricks Maid Lotus had used to turn him and Princess voluptuous those days. This was a loophole that must be sealed.