Chapter 509: Amidst the Winds of Change!
Translator: Novel Saga Editor: Novel Saga
Ye Xiwen merely laughed in response. He didn’t argue with him. Only he himself knew that he wasn’t a genius. He didn’t possess outstanding innate talent. So, he obviously couldn’t be compared with these geniuses. He himself didn’t know how many times he had made narrow escapes from death in order to reach up to this stage.
He had reached till this stage by fighting against the people… as well as the heaven!
The news that Ye Xiwen had killed the Dwarf Tiger and the Fourth Prince had spread throughout the entire Imperial Capital like a gust of wind. The Twenty-third Prince had suddenly become the hot-favourite in this contest for the throne. Many people who hadn’t been optimistic about him had suddenly begun to favour him in quick succession. Moreover, they wanted to overwhelm him with resources.
The Twenty-third Prince’s mansion had been a deserted place earlier. But, it had suddenly flooded with the huge crowd. Many people wanted to curry favour with him since he was the most powerful and popular prince at present.
The Twenty-third Prince would definitely remember those who had been good to him if he ascended the throne. Suddenly, a lot of people had arrived looking to join his faction even though it had collapsed and disappeared when he had been chased down by the people. Everyone had left him like the rats leave a sinking ship at that time. But, he had suddenly gained the limelight now. So, he had attracted a lot of people as a result.
The Twenty-third Prince, Ye Xiwen, Wood Dragon, and several other people who had now become the core members of his faction had gathered in a private room inside the Twenty-third Prince’s mansion.
"We have become a huge force like the Big Prince, Second Prince, and other people since we’ve crushed the fourth prince’s faction. And, we’ve also become an eyesore for many forces!" Ye Xiwen swept his gaze across everyone and said. It was Twenty-third Prince’s faction. However, Ye Xiwen had become the core figure of the entire faction of the Twenty-third Prince after that day’s stunning performance even though he hadn’t asked for that.
Ye Xiwen didn’t care about ordinary affairs. However, they would still seek his advice on big matters. And, they would always get unexpected answers whenever they’d ask him for advice. Conspiracy, military strategy and tactics, government’s politics…? Ye Xiwen had casually grasped these concepts at his fingertips. So, he would come up with unexpected solutions.
Everyone was impressed with Ye Xiwen. They had initially thought that he was only a high-handed hired-goon that was trying to play the role of a consecrate expert. However, they hadn’t thought that he could also play the role of an advisor. Moreover, he was nearly omnipotent. He could take care of all kinds of things with mastery.
The Twenty-third Prince had considered hiring Ye Xiwen as his advisor many times. In fact, he had also promised him that he would make him the Prime Minister if he succeeded in obtaining the throne in the future. However, Ye Xiwen wasn’t tempted by this. So, he had refused this offer. In fact, he gave no margin for discussion on this topic.
Ye Xiwen’s target was to reach the peak of martial arts. How he could waste his time on these ordinary matters? In fact, he could casually settle these matters without putting much effort. He had stayed in Yi Yuan School’s library for a long time in the past. It wasn’t that he hadn’t studied anything about Imperial governance, military strength and tactics, or how to handle government affairs and so on. He had learnt the notes of the renowned experts of older generation by heart. The Great Yue State wasn’t as huge as the Great Wei State. However, many a logic were connected and similar. Analogy dictates that one can easily grasp a hundred laws if one can master a law.
"Therefore, it’s not the time to resort to high-handed methods anymore. We have already revealed enough strength. Those who want to seek our help can come to us. And then, we must ‘build high walls, stock up a wide range of provisions, and slowly wait to be named the king’!" Ye Xiwen slowly stated the true words of rebellion.
The Twenty-third Prince’s eyes shone as if he had gotten the right direction. These words were few. However, they had an intrinsic guiding property.
These were few words. However, they were quite effective. He looked even more earnestly at Ye Xiwen. However, unfortunately Ye Xiwen didn’t have any interest in becoming his advisor.
It wasn’t that Ye Xiwen didn’t understand the principle of remaining low-key and quietly accumulating strength. However, that old Emperor was already taking his last breaths and could die any moment now. So, where was the time to slowly accumulate the strength? One must rope in whoever comes seeking help under normal situation if one doesn’t have enough fame and prestige. This was the requirement of the long-lasting battles.
It was like the Three Kingdoms Periods when the forces of Cao, Sun, Liu and Yuan had defeated Dong Zhuo, and made use of the reputation built on that victory to recruit countless talents…
The Twenty-third Prince had already obtained enough reputation and prestige after he had defeated the entire force of the Fourth Prince. Therefore, the geniuses who were optimistic about him had already arrived. Plus, he had also accepted the majority of the Fourth Prince’s remaining forces. And, his own force had expanded by a considerable margin as a result.
He must maintain a low profile in the coming time and bide his time until the right time was upon. It would be difficult to avoid the opposition of other forces if he continued to resort to high-handed methods. And, they would try to get rid of him as early as possible. Standing out wouldn’t lead to good fate under every circumstance. The Twenty-third Prince had tried to stand out in the past, but he obviously couldn’t do anything else under those circumstances. However, he could’ve used such a strategy if his fame hadn’t lacked that much in the first place.
"Our new tactic will be to quietly expand our strength. And then, we will calmly wait for the times to change!" Ye Xiwen swept his gaze across everyone and said.
Everyone knew what this so-called ‘wait for times to change’ meant. The ‘right time’ would be when the Emperor would die. That would be a huge time of change. The Great Wei State didn’t have its Crowned Prince. So, these princes would also have a chance. The Great Wei State’s Emperor could’ve held the power in his hands for at least more than five-hundred years in accordance with the very long lifespan of the martial arts experts. So, there had been no need to choose the next Emperor so early. However, the Emperor didn’t expect that one accident could lead to the current situation where a group of princes would start fighting for the throne.
Ye Xiwen secretly heaved a sigh of relief. Was it that simple to obtain the Northern Dipper Organization’s support? He must help the Twenty-third Prince in obtaining the throne. Only then would his task be considered ‘finished’. Afterwards, the people of the Northern Dipper Faction would arrive and take over the control. Then, Ye Xiwen wouldn’t need to handle things here.
There were many factions within the Northern Dipper Organization as well. Ye Xiwen, Wood Dragon, and Qing Xu were comparatively closer to each other. They were all in the Northern Dipper, but this area was regarded as the territory of Ye Xiwen and a few other people. So, the other members of the organization wouldn’t dare to intrude because of tacit mutual understanding.
In fact, Ye Xiwen could also get a share of profits from this territory in the future. And, he was helping the Twenty-third Prince so energetically in planning these things because of this reason only. He would also obtain many benefits if the Twenty-third Prince ascended the throne. And, these benefits would be far more than what was visible from outside…
The Twenty-third Prince hadn’t accepted a large number of disciples after he had become the hot-favourite unlike what everyone had imagined. On the contrary, he had nearly stopped recruiting forces after he had received the force of the Fourth Prince.
A large number of people were still standing outside the Twenty-third Prince’s mansion since they wanted to join his faction. They wanted to take advantage of the current situation since the final result of the contest hadn’t come out. And, they wanted to get mixed in his faction during this time. After all, they would at least get to be the Emperor’s ministers if the outcome got swayed in their faction’s favour.
However, the Twenty-third Prince’s reluctance was contrary to many people’s expectations. In fact, some forces of the Fourth Prince were seeking to join other princes. But, the Twenty-third Prince hadn’t stopped them. In fact, it seemed as if he had ignored them in their entirety.
However, only Ye Xiwen knew the reality. After all, Ye Xiwen had established the policies. So, he knew that these people were opportunists and useless. The only thing that could decide the result of this contest for the throne was fighting with the opponents by relying on one’s military force. And, these people were useless as a military force. These people would collapse and disappear at the first sight of failure. Thus, they were unreliable.
Moreover, there would be no end to these people’s greed if the Twenty-third Prince were to mount the throne in the end. They would keep demanding more and more from him.
The aftermath of Fourth Prince’s death had quietened down after one month had passed. The Twenty-third Prince and many other princes had divided the Fourth Prince’s forces among themselves. The majority of the force had obviously fallen into the hands of the Twenty-third Prince. However, a considerable part of the force had also fallen into the hands of other princes. And, they had also reached their limits as a result. After all, the Fourth Prince had been operating his forces for over a hundred years. So, their foundation was incredibly profound. How would it have been that easy to complete this partition if the backbone of the Fourth Prince’s faction hadn’t been broken by Ye Xiwen along with the death of the fourth prince himself?
However, the entire Imperial Capital looked even more nervous. Many people were guessing that the Twenty-third Prince’s tightly hidden force might emerge all of a sudden. After all, the moment of final announcement was drawing near.
No news about the Emperor was disseminated inside the Imperial Palace at first. However, some news eventually came out. Someone had gone and knocked the doors of Imperial City Watchtower for the treatment of the Emperor’s injury. They had visited and requested the Imperial Clan’s old ancestor of great sage realm to move into action and provide treatment to the Emperor’s injuries.
After all, the Emperor’s force was bigger than the forces of all the princes. They were the royalist force! They had flourished because of the Emperor. They had obtained the love and trust of the Emperor. And thus, they had been able to reach till here. The other people wouldn’t suffer the biggest loss if the Emperor died suddenly. However, these loyalists would. After all, every prince had their own members. So, they would use their own members instead of these old officials of the late Emperor if they obtained the throne. And, these old loyalists were mostly worried about this thing. Therefore, it would be better if they could think of a method to treat the old Emperor’s injuries rather than trying their lucks on whichever prince would win.
So, they were clear that the old ancestor of great sage realm would treat the injuries of the Emperor in this critical situation.
It had been said that this old ancestor of great sage realm was the founder of the Great Wei State. He had disappeared a long time ago. And, he had only reappeared on few occasions when the Great Wei State was in a situation of crisis, and the entire country was about to extinguish.
Moreover, it had been said that he used to live in a secret world, and would remain submerged in closed-door training most of the time. However, these people had gone out to look for this old ancestor of the great sage realm in the hope that he would act.
However, soon the news spread out that this old ancestor of the great sage realm was also helpless and couldn’t treat the injuries of the Emperor. And, this news had declared the destruction of the Emperor’s force.
The ambitious princes had begun to become restless as a result. However, another piece of news suddenly got transmitted soon enough.
The Eldest Prince had rushed into the palace in rebellion. He had suddenly led his entire force, and had rushed into the palace. He had then raided the Imperial Palace in order to seize the throne. And, another piece of news vigorously transmitted soon after that happened.
The Eldest Prince had been defeated. And, the reason for his defeat was that… the Imperial Palace’s old ancestor of the great sage realm had attacked. He had personally attacked and suppressed the Eldest Prince since he had rushed inside the palace. And, the Eldest Prince was defeated as a result.
A myriad of rumors started to spread around as a result. And, this caused a lot of confusion.